Abstract
This field study investigated the use and efficacy of main and cued invitations in eliciting forensically relevant information from a national sample of forensic interviews conducted with preschool-aged (2- to 6-year-old) alleged victims of abuse. Among 1065 invitations posed by the interviewers, 43 (4%) were classified as main invitations, while 1022 (96%) were identified as cued invitations. Both subtypes of invitations were equally effective in eliciting event-specific, forensically relevant information from the children. Nearly 70% of main invitations yielded forensically relevant information, compared to 83% for cued invitations. Interviewers typically presented only one invitation before resorting to other prompts, predominantly directive, option-posing, and suggestive questions. The effectiveness of invitations increased significantly when posed later in the interviews, suggesting a decline in children's productive responses as the interview progressed. This study highlights potential barriers to the effective use of invitations and discusses implications for developing tailored training programs for interviewers working with preschool-aged alleged victims.