Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry最新文献

Background: Domestic violence mechanisms are frequently transmitted across generations, representing a global issue demanding particular attention. This study investigates the intergenerational transmission of intimate partner violence (IPV) and parent-to-child violence (PCV) and whether participating in a multilevel preventive intervention (Fast Track) breaks this transmission.

Methods: In high-risk elementary schools located in the United States, children considered at high risk for aggressive behavior based on teachers' and parents' screen scores were assigned to either a 10-year intervention or a control group based on their school. The Fast Track trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01653535) and was focused on parenting practices and children's intrapersonal, interpersonal, and academic skills. From the original 891 children, 374 participants with children aged less than 18 years (n = 191 intervention group, n = 183 control group) reported at age 34 their experience with domestic violence and their children's psychological adjustment.

Results: The intergenerational mediating pathway from high IPV in the first generation to high PCV in the second generation to greater total mental health difficulties in the third generation was statistically significant in the control group but not in the intervention group.

Conclusions: IPV was intergenerationally transmitted by influencing PCV, with a negative effect on the third generation's mental health. Nevertheless, participation in the Fast Track intervention disrupted this cycle. These findings suggest the importance of policies to support preventive childhood interventions.

Background: Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) improves parenting and child behavior, yet little is known about how dosage of its two phases, warm relationship building focused child-directed interaction (CDI) sessions and safe, effective discipline skills-focused parent-directed interaction (PDI) sessions, contributes to outcomes, particularly in child welfare-involved families. Understanding these dose-response patterns can clarify the pathways through which PCIT produces change.

Methods: In a sample of 204 child welfare families with young children, we examined the dose-response relationship between each PCIT phase and key intervention outcomes of positive and negative parenting skills and disruptive child behavior problems. We also used sequential mediation models to test time-ordered intervention dosage effects (i.e., number of CDI sessions completed and subsequent number of PDI sessions completed) on the parent and child outcomes.

Results: Sequential mediation models showed that the PCIT intervention exerted significant indirect effects on increased positive parenting skills and decreased negative parenting behaviors and child behavior problems through higher dosage of relationship-enhancing CDI sessions followed by higher dosage of safe discipline-focused PDI sessions. Further, CDI dosage interacted with PDI dosage to predict greater gains in positive parenting skills outcomes.

Conclusions: These results contribute new insights into the pathways through which PCIT shapes outcomes in a sample of child welfare-involved families. Findings also highlight the significant unique contribution that limit-setting-oriented PDI, a relatively understudied phase of PCIT, plays in enhancing positive parenting skills and mitigating child behavior problems.