FASD and Intellectual Disability Equivalence: A Meta-Analysis of Suggestibility During Forensic Interviews

Gilbert, D, Azumara, SI, Wheatcroft, J ORCID: 0000-0001-7212-1598, Steel, K, Cook, P, Mukherjee, R, Gudjonsson, G and Brown, NN FASD and Intellectual Disability Equivalence: A Meta-Analysis of Suggestibility During Forensic Interviews. Behavioral Sciences & the Law. ISSN 0735-3936 (Accepted)

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Abstract

Intellectual disability equivalence describes conditions in which individuals function cognitively and adaptively at levels comparable to intellectual disability (ID) without meeting IQ-based diagnostic criteria. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is characterised by impaired executive and adaptive functioning despite IQs often above the ID threshold, suggesting functional overlap with ID. This meta-analytic study is the first to examine whether FASD and ID share vulnerabilities in interrogative suggestibility.

Methods
A PRISMA-guided search of six databases identified studies involving FASD or ID. Bayesian random-effects meta-analyses were conducted on Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale–2 outcomes: Yield 1, Yield 2, Shift, and Total Suggestibility.

Results
Individuals with FASD showed levels of interrogative suggestibility comparable to, and sometimes exceeding, those with ID across all indices. Effect sizes were large for both groups, with particularly elevated Shift scores in FASD.

Conclusion
Both groups are highly vulnerable to leading questions and interrogative pressure. Individuals with FASD may be especially prone to changing responses following negative feedback, highlighting important forensic interviewing implications.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Research Centre for Brain and Behaviour (RCBB); 1602 Criminology; 1701 Psychology; 1801 Law; Criminology; 4402 Criminology; 4804 Law in context; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology K Law > K Law (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations > HV7551 Police. Detectives. Constabulary
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	24 February 2026
Date Deposited:	24 Feb 2026 16:28
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2026 16:28
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28140

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