Coherence in Children’s Reports of Sexual Abuse

Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice | 2025, Vol. 25, No. 4, p. 772-791

Coherence in Children’s Reports of Sexual Abuse: Age, PTSD, and Questioning Style 

Sarah Miragoli; Department of Psychology, CRIdee, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

Vittoria Badino;  Department of Psychology, CRIdee, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy

Elena Camisasca; Department of Psychology, eCampus University, Milan, Italy

“In the justice system, Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) presents significant complexities in investigation and assessment. There are often delays in reporting, a lack of witnesses other than the victim, and no medical or forensic evidence with strong evidentiary value. Consequently, a significant challenge in cases of CSA is the accurate assessment of the credibility of the testimony of the victim (often the only eyewitness to the events). In court, a witness is considered credible if he/she is able to provide a complete and coherent account of the criminal event about which he/she is called to testify. For this reason, narrative coherence is considered an important marker of the child witness’s credibility... In judicial settings, the witness’s ability to provide coherent reports of criminal facts, in terms of context (details of space and time), chronology (according to a clear temporal sequence), and theme (through personal comments and cognitive evaluations), could be relevant to the juror decision-making. As illustrated, developmental literature shows that age, PTSD, and questioning style are important factors for evaluating the narrative coherence in traumatic narratives of child sexual abuse” (p. 772-777). 

“The present study aimed to confirm the effects of age, PTSD, and questioning style on child testimony, concerning coherence and its specific dimensions in 82 depositions of children sexually abused. In particular, the study aims to consolidate data on the relationship between age and narrative coherence. Additionally, it aims to provide further data on the impact of PTSD on the ability to produce a coherent narrative, due to controversial findings in the literature. Finally, the study explores the relationship between narrative coherence and questioning style, an area that has not been explored much in previous research. Following the literature, we assumed that age, PTSD, and questioning style could have significant effects on narrative coherence. Overall, two different hypotheses have been made. Hp 1: older children produced more coherent narratives than younger children; hp 2: children with PTSD produced less coherent narratives as compared to children that did not satisfy the diagnostic criteria for PTSD; hp 3: open-ended questions, free-invitations, and repeated questions could facilitate the story of facts but not necessarily could contribute to providing the salient details for a coherent testimony; on the other hand, the probability of getting an unclear testimony might rise if children are asked closed-ended or suggestive questions” (p. 777). 

“A total of 82 Italian children (56 girls and 26 boys), who were victims of sexual abuse and were involved in criminal proceedings for sexual violence against minors (concluded with the conviction of the perpetrator) at the Criminal Court of Milan (Italy), participated in the present study. At the deposition, the age range was 4–17 years (M = 9.9, DS = 3.8)...  In Italy, children under the age of 18 are afforded special protection in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which emphasizes their vulnerability and prioritizes their best interests. This principle is reflected in Italian criminal law, which acknowledges the unsuitability of typical cross-examination methods for children… An expert in developmental and/or legal psychology assists the judicial authority in formulating questions, as lawyers are prohibited from directly questioning the child witness: this ensures an adversarial process while safeguarding the child’s welfare and minimizing potential trauma. To assess the coherence of depositions, the Narrative Coherence Coding Scheme (NCCS) was used” (p. 777 - 779).

“Our results illustrated that age significantly influenced the narrative coherence. As predicted, older children were more coherent than younger children, reflecting an expected developmental trend in the narrative coherence of sexual abuse reports. Specifically, older children produced more coherent narratives, than younger children, in terms of context (level of orientation in space and time), chronology (sequence of events), and theme (cognitive and affective evaluations). In older children’s reports, traumatic narratives were richer in information about time, location, and people involved, were more chronologically (and causally) ordered and provided a higher number of evaluative comments referring to the representations of personal experience. These differences were progressive with age, so preschool-aged children were less able to produce elements of narrative coherence than school-age children and adolescents, and school-age children were less able than adolescents” (p. 783). 

“Our findings illustrated that PTSD symptoms could negatively affect narrative coherence, in terms of context, chronology, and theme. Children with PTSD symptoms, compared with children without PTSD symptoms, were less able to provide detailed and coherent narratives, with less contextual information of orientation (context), greater temporal and causal disorganization (chronology), and poor evaluative and personal comments (theme)... Finally, our results illustrated how, in addition to age and PTSD, also the questioning style could influence the quality of the child’s testimony. Specifically, open-ended questions produced more general responses with less contextual details, which did not clearly follow a sequential order of facts (and causal links) and with few cognitive and affective evaluations. On the contrary, the use of closed-ended/option-posing questions and free-invitation prompts strengthened the perception of general coherence, especially in terms of the sequence of events (chronology). Repeated and suggestive questions were not connected to the narrative coherence in sexual abuse depositions” (p. 783 - 784). 

“The results of this study are suggestive, but several limitations should be considered. First, the sample size was rather small and included children involved in different types of sexual abuse, which had occurred at varying periods in the past. More recent episodes of sexual abuse could be better remembered, in terms of contextual details and sequence of events. Even the age at which the sexual abuse occurred, and coping strategies could affect its organization and representation in memory. Second, we used dichotomous categories (rather than continuous measures) for the assessment of PTSD. It would be useful to evaluate the severity levels of PTSD and to separate the specific post-traumatic clusters (reexperiencing, avoidance and numbing, and increased arousal symptoms), to better understand their connections with the narrative coherence. Third, this study did not assess the baseline of children’s storytelling skills for ordinary events and did not analyze the children’s traumatic emotions related to tell their victimization experiences in a judicial context. Indeed, in addition to the post-traumatic consequences related to sexual violence, difficulties in testifying could be traced to embarrassment, reluctance to disclose, social pressure, and anxiety about testifying in a legal context.

To address these questions and study narrative coherence systematically, several steps should be taken in future research. First, researchers should consider larger and more homogenous samples (especially with respect to the temporal characteristics of the traumatic experience) and assess different clusters of PTSD symptoms (dissociation, reexperiencing, avoidance and numbing, and increased arousal symptoms). Moreover, it would be interesting to compare traumatic narratives of sexual abuse with ordinary memories. Despite these limitations, we believe that these findings could contribute to better understand which specific elements of the narrative coherence could be compromised by age, PTSD, and questioning style. A further future line of research could then be directed toward understanding the interaction effect between these variables” (p. 785-786).