Eyewitness Reporting by Navajo and Mainstream-Culture Children

This study examined culturally based differences in children's eyewitness reporting. The same live event was enacted with one mainstream-culture and one Navajo (Diné) third-grade class. Ten days later an interviewer used a forensic protocol to question each child. The children's answers were analyzed for amount and accuracy of reported information. Mainstream-culture children reported more information overall than the Navajo, but the groups did not differ in accuracy. Active participation affected the amount of information reported by mainstream-culture children, whereas Navajo children were equally informative as either participants or observers. Results indicate a cultural orientation to the recall of personally experienced events.