An examination of "don't know" responses in forensic interviews with children

Most experimental studies examining the use of pre-interview instructions (ground rules) show that children say "I don't know" more often when they have been encouraged to do so when appropriate. However, children's "don't know" responses have not been studied in more applied contexts, such as in investigative interviews. In the present study, 76 transcripts of investigative interviews with allegedly abused children revealed patterns of "don't know" responding, as well as interviewers' reactions to these responses. Instructions to say "I don't know" when appropriate did not affect the frequency with which children gave these responses. Interviewers rejected "don't know" responses nearly 30% of the time, and typically continued to ask about the same topic using more risky questions. Children often answered these follow-up questions even though they had previously indicated that they lacked the requested information. There was no evidence that "don't know" responses indicated reluctance to talk about abuse. Implications for forensic interviewers are discussed.

Interview with Don Murniadi

Don Murniadi is an Indonesian who studied at the University of New South Wales in 1963. He studied on a Colombo Plan Scholarship and completed a Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering. The interview was conducted in Indonesian on 2 January 2014 by Dr. Ahmad Suaedy of the Abdurrahman Wahid Centre for Inter-faith Dialogue and Peace at Universitas Indonesia. This set comprises: an interview recording, a transcript of the interview in Indonesian, and a transcript of the interview translated into English.

Don't eat that, you'll get fat! Exploring how parents and children conceptualise and frame messages about the causes and consequences of obesity

Family interactions about weight and health take place against the backdrop of the wider social discourse relating to the obesity epidemic. Parents (and children) negotiate complex and often contradictory messages in constructing a set of beliefs and practices around obesity and weight management. Despite this, very little research attention has been given to the nature of family-unit discourse on the subject of body weight and it's potential influence on the weight-related behaviours of family members. This includes the broad influence that dominant socio-cultural discourses have on family conceptualisations of weight and health. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 150 family 'groups' comprised of at least one parent and one child in Victoria and South Australia, we explored how parents and children conceptualise and discuss issues of weight- and health-related lifestyle behaviours. Data were analysed using Attride-Stirling's (2001) thematic network approach. Three thematic clusters emerged from the analysis. First, both parents and children perceived that weight was the primary indicator of health. However, parents focused on the negative physical implications of overweight while children focused on the negative social implications. Second, weight and lifestyle choices were highly moralised. Parents saw it as their responsibility to communicate to children the 'dangers' of fatness. Children reported that parents typically used negatively-framed messages and scare tactics rather than positively-framed messages to encourage healthy behaviours. Third was the perception among parents and children that if you were thin, then eating habits and exercise were less important, and that activity could provide an antidote to food choices. Results suggest that both parents and children are internalising messages relating to obesity and weight management that focus on personal responsibility and blame attribution. These views reflect the broader societal discourse, and their consolidation at the family level is likely to increase their potency and make them resistant to change.

You just change the channel if you don't like what you're going to hear: gamblers' attitudes towards, and interactions with, social marketing campaigns

OBJECTIVES: To investigate how gamblers interact with, and respond to, downstream social marketing campaigns that focus on the risks and harms of problem gambling and/or encourage help seeking. METHODS: Qualitative study of 100 gamblers with a range of gambling behaviours (from non-problem to problem gambling). We used a Social Constructivist approach. Our constant comparative method of data interpretation focused on how participants' experiences and interactions with gambling influenced their opinions towards, and interactions with social marketing campaigns. RESULTS: Three key themes emerged from the narratives. (i) Participants felt that campaigns were heavily skewed towards encouraging individuals to take personal responsibility for their gambling behaviours or were targeted towards those with severe gambling problems. (ii) Participants described the difficulty for campaigns to achieve 'cut through' because of the overwhelming volume of positive messages about the benefits of gambling that were given by the gambling industry. (iii) Some participants described that dominant discourses about personal responsibility prevented them from seeking help and reinforced perceptions of stigma. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Social marketing campaigns have an important role to play in the prevention of gambling risk behaviours and the promotion of help seeking. Social marketers should explore how to more effectively target campaigns to different audience segments, understand the role of environmental factors in undermining the uptake of social marketing strategies and anticipate the potential unforeseen consequences of social marketing strategies.