Child Maltreatment最新文献

Children experiencing maltreatment in the first 3 years of life are at risk for several developmental challenges throughout the lifespan. Researchers and practitioners have emphasized understanding how institutional supports implemented through state governments may support infants and toddlers' development, but less attention has been paid to the potential effects of state policies on maltreatment specifically. We tested whether state-level policies providing economic and family planning support implemented between 2005-2019 were associated with rates of reported and substantiated abuse and neglect among children under three. Two-way fixed effects models indicate that implementing a state Child Tax Credit, expanding contraception access, raising minimum wages, and expanding eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs were associated with decreased maltreatment according to various indicators among Black, White, and Hispanic children. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Child maltreatment can affect multiple children in a family, yet its occurrence and chronicity has been often assessed by focusing on a single child. Although this approach provides valuable insights, considering the experiences of all children in a family may provide a more complete understanding of maltreatment dynamics. Using linked birth and child protection system (CPS) records from California, we analyzed 20 years of data on 194,514 first-time mothers to document the prevalence, timing, and chronicity of maternal CPS reporting across multiple children. Mothers were categorized by the number of live childbirths: one (25.7%), two (36.2%), three (20.9%), and four or more (17.2%). Overall, 33.0% of mothers were reported to CPS, increasing from 18.5% for mothers with one child to 63.1% for those with four or more children. For mothers with two or more children, more than 70% experienced an initial CPS report only after the second child's birth. Our findings have implications for understanding the dynamics of maternal reports to CPS, emphasizing the need for lasting and family-focused interventions.

Youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are at significantly higher risk of experiencing multiple types of interpersonal victimization across their lifespan compared to their peers without IDD. Despite the extensive literature on efficacy of prevention education programs for children without IDD, very little is known about comparable programs for children with IDD. In this scoping review, we synthesized the literature on existing programs for children with IDD. We identified thirteen programs which we critically assessed against established best practice criteria for prevention and special education and evaluation. The current literature on prevention education programs for children with IDD exhibits significant limitations, such as weak research designs and poor measurement of outcomes.

Support has been found for the intergenerational transmission of risk from maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to child outcomes. Less research has focused on longitudinal psychosocial pathways that account for this transmission. In the current study, path analysis examined mediating pathways (i.e., maternal adult attachment insecurity, romantic relationship functioning, and maternal anxiety and depression symptoms) in the association between maternal ACEs and internalizing and externalizing concerns among their child at eight years of age. Participants included 1,994 mother-child dyads from a prospective longitudinal cohort sample. Maternal ACEs were significantly associated directly with child internalizing concerns (β = .06, p = .025) and indirectly via both maternal attachment anxiety and avoidance, lower romantic relationship functioning, and depression, (β = .002, p = .006; β = .003, p = .005, respectively). Maternal ACEs were directly associated with child externalizing concerns (β = .06, p = .018) and indirectly via both maternal attachment anxiety and avoidance, lower romantic relationship functioning, and depression, (β = .001, p = .008; β = .002, p = .010, respectively). This study identified several maternal risk factors that have implications for downstream internalizing and externalizing concerns among their children.

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 study aimed to investigate the connection between childhood abuse history and cardiovascular health indicators among a nationally representative sample of young adults aged 24-32. Using data from waves three and four of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 4, 164) multivariate logistic regression was employed to investigate childhood trauma (i.e., childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect) as predictors for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Results showed that adults who reported history of sexual abuse were 4.3 times more likely to report diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and those who reported childhood physical abuse at wave three had 1.4 times the odds of reporting high cholesterol diagnosis. Although trauma history is often calculated as a composite, some forms of childhood abuse may have greater impacts on cardiovascular risk than others.

Housing cost burden is stressful for families, interfering with healthy, positive parenting. The present study uses data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the relationship between housing cost burden and aggressive parenting with children age 3 to age 15. Latent growth curve modeling finds that both types of aggressive parenting behaviors decline on average, but that housing cost burden contributes to significant ongoing risk. Results indicate within-time associations between housing cost burden and psychological aggression and associations both within- and across-time between housing cost burden and physical aggression. Housing cost burden poses a significant risk factor for families, and child maltreatment prevention approaches must incorporate strategies for addressing housing cost burden.

In cases of alleged child sexual abuse, information about the timing of events is often needed. However, published developmental laboratory research has demonstrated that children struggle to provide accurate and reliable testimony about time and there is currently a lack of field research examining how attorneys actually question child witnesses about time in court. The current study analyzed 130 trial transcripts from cases of alleged child sexual abuse containing a child witness between the ages of 5-17 years old to determine the frequency, style, and content of attorneys' questions and child responses about time. We found that attorneys primarily ask closed-ended temporal location questions (i.e., asking when an event took place using a temporal construct such as day, month, and year) to child witnesses. Additionally, children, of all ages, rarely said "I don't know" or expressed uncertainty in response to temporal questions. These findings are concerning as researchers find that children tend to struggle with temporally locating past events.