Pronoun Anaphora and Children's Developing Abilities to Backward Reference in Criminal Cases of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

In child sexual abuse (CSA) testimony, attorneys may ask children questions containing pronoun anaphora (e.g., “Where was your Dad?” “What did he do?” he is a pronoun anaphora for referent, Dad). To answer these questions, children must recall the pronoun's referent and appropriate answer to the question. This may be too complex a cognitive task for young children, especially when there are multiple question-and-answer (Q–A) turns between the referent and pronoun, leading to misunderstanding. We examined Q–A pairs containing pronouns in 40 CSA testimonies of 5 to 10-year-olds. Many attorneys' questions (24%) contained pronouns. Attorneys averaged 4.11 Q–A turns between the referent and pronoun. With each additional Q–A turn, the likelihood of misunderstanding increased. Children's age was also associated with a significant decrease in misunderstanding, meaning older children exhibited fewer misunderstandings. To reduce misunderstanding, those questioning children should clarify the referent quickly when their question contains pronoun anaphora.