The relationship between coping strategies, resistant responses, and suggestibility in children

According to the model of interrogative suggestibility also relevant to children, coping strategies have an important role in determining people’s resistance to leading questions or their accepting of suggestions. In this study, a sample of 95 children aged 11 to 14 years were assessed for coping strategies and their association/possible effect on immediate suggestibility and resistant behavioral responses using (i) Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS1 and GSS 2), (ii) coping strategies detected with the Children Responses Inventory and (iii) non-verbal IQ using Raven’s Progressive Matrices. We hypothesized that approach cognitive-behavior and avoidance-cognitive coping strategies with active cognitive efforts would reduce vulnerability in suggestive interviews and that behavioural coping strategies would increase resistant answers to unanswerable questions. The data indicated that task-oriented and avoidant coping strategies that involve active cognitive efforts to reduce stress and social pressure led to lower suggestibility scores and foster greater resistant responses The effect of the coping strategy, such as Logical Analysis, Problem Solving, Cognitive Avoidance and Acceptance-Resignation, was greater for the second administration of the GSS contributing to a reduction of the levels of suggestibility, Problem-solving strategy was found to be highly significant regarding Direct Explanation resistant behavioural responses, which also increased during administration of GSS1, but they did not during the administration of GSS2. Furthermore, it emerged that with increasing age, and using more active coping strategies, the suggestibility levels tended to decrease.