Research and Practice in Child Interviewing

Abstract

Recent research documents the comorbidity of child maltreatment and domestic violence as well as the detrimental impact of exposure to domestic violence on children. Domestic violence and child interviewing also share the distinction of being contested social issues. This article argues that methods employed in interviewing children about child maltreatment can be applied to interviewing children about exposure to domestic violence. The article describes how cognitive interviewing, narrative elaboration, and event segmentation can be employed when talking to children about domestic violence. In addition, the article discusses how focused questions related to child maltreatment and child endangerment can be used to elicit information from children about domestic violence.