Child Maltreatment最新文献

Identifying families with increased risk and preventing child neglect recurrence are important goals for the child protection system and the public health priority to mitigate Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). While much has been studied about the factors leading to neglect, less is known about the specific factors contributing to neglect recurrence after CPS investigation. We used Child Files from FY2015-2020 in the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and the Neglect and Prevention Policies Dataset to first describe recurrence and then to identify the contributions of child, family, report characteristics, state neglect definitions, and CPS post investigation service referrals. We found that confirmed child maltreatment of all types most often recurs as neglect, but there are also significant proportions of children who have a second confirmed report with the same type of maltreatment. There are significant associations with neglect recurrence for exposures at all levels of the socioecological model including some child, family and report factors, and more state definitions are associated with more confirmed neglect recurrence. The effects of race were blunted when adjusted for family financial factors. Some post-investigation services were associated with decreased neglect recurrence, but most were not. CPS agencies and states can look for certain case characteristics and provide services to reduce neglect recurrence.

Research examining commercially sexually exploited adolescents' (CSEA) reluctance has found lower rates of reluctance in court than in police interviews. One possible explanation is that the constrained courtroom questioning environment leads witnesses to express reluctance in novel ways. This study analyzed the responses (N = 4163) of six female CSE witnesses aged 15-17 (Mage = 16.50) who were associated with the same trafficker, interviewed by the same police officers (n = 1660 utterances), and questioned by the same attorneys in court (n = 2463 utterances). We utilized a coding scheme identifying novel forms of reluctance in CSEA (Henderson et al., 2021), and supplemented the scheme with additional types of reluctance, derived from literature examining the questioning of politicians and suspects in interrogations. Supplementing the scheme increased the rate of reluctance in court from 3% to 13% (OR = 4.83), with higher reluctance exhibited in response to the defense (16%) than to the prosecution (10%). The rate of reluctance in the police interviews also increased from 13% to 18% (OR = 1.47). Reluctance was often expressed differently in court than in police interviews, with greater use of altering the narrative (including questioning implicit assumptions of the questioner) and inappropriate diction (including resisting formality).

In 2009, Vermont became the first state to enact a comprehensive health education policy that included child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention. This study describes the implementation efforts of CSA prevention programming led by Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, both one year prior to the policy enactment and ten years later (i.e., 2008-2019). We used data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) to obtain rates of substantiated CSA reports and examined their association with program implementation. Findings from longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling indicated that, in seven Vermont counties, an increased number of CSA prevention programs correlated with a decrease in substantiated CSA reports. Three adult focused programs, Nurturing Healthy Sexual Development, Informed Supervision, and Overcoming Barriers-were also associated with reduced substantiated CSA reports. These findings suggest that consistent implementation of CSA prevention programs across the state of Vermont was associated with lower rates of CSA incidents.

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is a growing global issue with significant psychological impacts, yet few validated tools assess childhood experiences. This study provides information on a newly developed IBSA Scale designed to capture the accumulating burden of multiple distinct dimensions of IBSA. The study included 6226 U.S. participants aged 18-28, with an oversampling of IBSA experiences (prior to age of 18) and of sexual and gender minority individuals. Psychometric evaluation involved Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were conducted to assess the scale's structure. Convergent validity was tested using peer norms and online risky behaviors, and discriminant validity with social connectedness. EGA confirmed a cohesive structure and 100% stability of all items, confirmed by CFA (χ²(9) = 102.17, p < .01, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .041). Convergent validity was demonstrated by moderate correlations with peer norms (rmean = .41) and online risky behaviors (rmean = .24). Discriminant validity was confirmed with low correlations with social connectedness (rmean = -.06). Sociodemographic analysis revealed higher IBSA scores among females, sexual and gender minority individuals, and participants with lower-income (p < .001). The IBSA scale is a promising tool for measuring the cumulative burden of different IBSA experiences.

While prior research indicates that parents who were maltreated as children are more likely to engage in negative parenting behaviors, less is known about how mothers' social relationships may influence these practices. Yet parenting behaviors are influenced not only by the individual characteristics of the parent and child, but also by the social context that exists around the parent-child dyad. The aim of the current cross-sectional study was to test a model examining the effect of mothers' exposure to child maltreatment on harsh parenting practices, as observed in the lab, and the mediating role of strain in mothers' relationships. Seventy-eight mother-child dyads, with children ranging from 18- to 36-months old, were recruited from the community; mothers completed self-report measures of childhood trauma and relational strains, and were observed during a stressful parent-child interaction in the lab. Results indicated that higher child maltreatment was associated with harsher parenting, indirectly via greater chronic relational strains. These findings contribute important knowledge on how mothers' trauma history may influence their current social context to affect parenting behavior. Therapeutic approaches focused on alleviating maternal relational strains, including interventions that target other important people in a mother's circle, may yield more parenting benefits than parent training without a systemic approach.

Validated instruments that measure intimate partner violence (IPV) following separation from an abusive co-parent ("post-separation abuse" (PSA)), are needed to understand and mitigate risks to child health. Items for the Healthcare, Economic, and Legal Post-Separation Abuse and Coercive Tactics (HELP-T) Scale were generated based on qualitative interviews with maternal survivors (N = 33) and expert review. Reliability, construct validity, and concurrent validity were tested in a sample (N = 497) of maternal survivors experiencing PSA in the US. Exploratory factor analysis assessed construct validity, and Cronbach's alpha assessed subscale reliability. Iterative principal factor analysis revealed 3 subscales for 22 items that were labeled (1) Healthcare PSA, (2) Legal PSA, and (3) Economic PSA, and demonstrated strong reliability with Cronbach's alphas from 0.82 to 0.89. The three subscales exhibit strong preliminary psychometric properties and provide insights to help health and legal professionals measure and establish PSA tactics.

The study compared life course models (LCM; accumulation, recency, and sensitive period) of child maltreatment and general psychopathology in a large, national longitudinal data set of 1354 youth ages birth-16 years (657 boys, 53.2% Black, 59.7% <$40K caregiver income). Previous research has supported the accumulation and recency models, albeit with shorter or fewer time periods of outcome measurement. We extend this work by modeling the impact of combined abuse and neglect allegations on a general psychopathology factor (dysregulation profile). Cross-sectional structural equation models were constructed using LCMs and tested across two-year periods from 4-16 years old and compared using Akaike Information Criterion weights. The recency variable generally explained the greatest proportion of variance in psychopathology. Notably, maltreatment more proximal to the time of outcome measurement had the strongest effect, suggesting that more recent maltreatment may have stronger effects on general psychopathology. These results lend support to a recency effect of maltreatment on psychopathology outcomes, although substantive overlaps with the accumulation model are noted.

Although adolescents are at elevated risk of sexual victimisation, very limited research has focused on how best to interview suspected adolescent victims. The current study was conducted to lay the groundwork for the development of best-practice interviewing approaches with adolescents when sexual victimisation is suspected. Expert interviewers with experience and knowledge in interviewing suspected adolescent victims were asked about common challenges they encounter with adolescent interviewees and how they tailor their interviews for this population. The findings indicated that adolescents are often reluctant to disclose, and the strategies the interviewers use to meet the unique needs of adolescents hinge on respecting each adolescent as a relatively autonomous and independent person. Identifying which strategies expert interviewers use is a fruitful starting point for future experimental research that can test and ultimately develop evidence-based practices for this population, which is necessary to help interviewers interact with suspected adolescent victims in ways that align with their psychosocial and cognitive maturity.

One overlooked result in a 1989 Science paper on the "cycle of violence" was a race-specific increase in risk for arrest for violence among Black maltreated children, but not White maltreated children. We examine whether race differences in the cycle of violence are explained by risk factors traditionally associated with violence. Using a prospective design, maltreated and non-maltreated children were matched on age, sex, race, and approximate family social class and interviewed at mean age 28.7 years (N = 1196). Arrest histories were obtained through age 50.5. Regression analyses included maltreatment, race, self-reported violent behavior, and risk factors (e.g., family, school, neighborhood variables). For arrests for violent crime, race was a significant predictor, whereas childhood maltreatment was not significant. For violent arrests, there was a significant race × maltreatment interaction when the total number of risk factors were included controlling for self-reported violent behaviors. For self-reported violent behaviors, childhood maltreatment remained significant for some risk factors. However, race did not predict self-reported violent behaviors. Offending behavior and traditional risk factors did not explain the disproportionate arrests among Black maltreated children. This disparity in the cycle of violence may reflect complex processes influenced by racial bias or structural racism.

This proof-of- concept study focused on interviewers' behaviors and perceptions when interacting with a dynamic AI child avatar alleging abuse. Professionals (N = 68) took part in a virtual reality (VR) study in which they questioned an avatar presented as a child victim of sexual or physical abuse. Of interest was how interviewers questioned the avatar, how productive the child avatar was in response, and how interviewers perceived the VR interaction. Findings suggested alignment between interviewers' virtual questioning approaches and interviewers' typical questioning behavior in real-world investigative interviews, with a diverse range of questions used to elicit disclosures from the child avatar. The avatar responded to most question types as children typically do, though more nuanced programming of the avatar's productivity in response to complex question types is needed. Participants rated the avatar positively and felt comfortable with the VR experience. Results underscored the potential of AI-based interview training as a scalable, standardized alternative to traditional methods.