Adults’ assessments of the credibility of children’s reports are affected by factors including the frequency of abuse, reporting delays and the child’s age. The present study examined whether similar factors affect the perceived credibility of children reporting physical abuse, which is more common than sexual abuse. Two hundred and eight mock jurors read a simulated transcript of a child reporting physical abuse to police and made credibility ratings. Within each transcript, abuse frequency (once, repeated), reporting timing (recent, delayed), police question type (open, closed) and child age (6 or 10 years) were manipulated. The child was considered more credible when the abuse was only experienced once and reported shortly after it occurred, and when prompted with open questions. The child’s age did not affect credibility judgments. Current findings support recommendations to prioritise open questions with children and provide evidence for extension of the benefits of open questions to children’s credibility.

成人对儿童报告可信度的评估受到虐待频率、报告延误和儿童年龄等因素的影响。本研究调查了类似的因素是否会影响儿童报告身体虐待的可信度，身体虐待比性虐待更常见。 208 名模拟陪审员阅读了一名儿童向警方报告身体虐待的模拟笔录，并进行了可信度评级。在每个笔录中，虐待频率（一次、重复）、报告时间（最近、延迟）、警察问题类型（开放、封闭）和儿童年龄（6 岁或 10 岁）都被操纵。当虐待只经历过一次并在发生后不久报告，并且当提示开放性问题时，孩子被认为更可信。孩子的年龄并不影响可信度判断。目前的研究结果支持优先考虑针对儿童的开放式问题的建议，并为扩大开放式问题对儿童可信度的好处提供了证据。