Family Characteristics as the Moderators of the Relationship Between Late Adolescents’ Psychological Constructs and Interrogative Suggestibility in Bahir Dar City Administration
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Date
2014-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study examined the role that family characteristics play on the relationship between late
adolescents’ psychological constructs and interrogative suggestibility. The research design
employed to conduct this study was Quasi-experimental Single-Group Interrupted Time-Series
Design. The ‘individual differences approach’ in eyewitness suggestibility developed by
Gudjonsson was adapted to use as a conceptual framework in this study. The Video
Suggestibility Scale (VSS) was adapted to gather data about suggestibility as dependent variable
and where VSS text and questions are regarded as independent variables. To assess individual
differences in eyewitness suggestibility in relation to their family characteristics and
psychological constructs a total of 135 Bahir Dar preparatory school students aged between 18-
21 years from Bahir Dar city administration, North-West of Ethiopia, were shown a 2 1⁄2-minute
video-recorded story about a man robbed of his money. Background information questionnaire
was utilized to gather data about the family characteristics, while scales were administered to
collect data on psychological constructs and interrogative suggestibility variables. Analysis
involving mainly hierarchical regression revealed that parenting style demonstrated moderating
effects on the relationships between extraversion, conscientiousness, locus of control, memory
accuracy and suggestibility variables in a late adolescent group. Parenting style was a
significant predictor of suggestibility and shift, rather than moderating the effect of openness to
experience, neuroticism, and agreeableness on suggestibility and shift. On the other hand,
parent’s educational level was neither a predictor nor a moderator variable in explaining the
relationship between personality traits and suggestibility variables. The hierarchical regression
analysis further indicated that parent’s educational level was merely found to moderate relations
between social desirability, sense of control and interrogative suggestibility variables. The
importance of the results, particularly in relation to the moderating role of family characteristics
in explaining relations between psychological constructs and interrogative suggestibility
variables, and the kinds of family characteristics that help to understand the influence of
psychological constructs on interrogative suggestibility variables are discussed in light of the
literature
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Administration