Double jeopardy: Child maltreatment and mental retardation

The multiple associations between child abuse and neglect and mental retardation are reviewed. These include: (1) mental retardation as an etiological risk factor for child maltreatment; (2) mental retardation as a result of child maltreatment; and (3) mental retardation of a parent as an etiological risk factor for a child's maltreatment. Implications and recommendations for social work practice and research are discussed.     

Child maltreatment in families experiencing domestic violence

This study examined the association between physical domestic violence (PDV) and reported child maltreatment in a cohort of children at risk for maltreatment. Participants were 219 6- to 7-year-old children and their caregivers. PDV was measured by combining caregivers' self-reports and children's reports, while child maltreatment was based on state Division of Social Services Central Registry records. Among 219 child-caregiver pairs studied, 42 (19.2%) had at least one maltreatment report in the 2 years following the interviews. PDV consistently predicted child maltreatment, with adjusted odds ratios ranging from 2.96 to 3.46. In addition, we investigated interactions between PDV and other predictors of child maltreatment. Among Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) participants, PDV was highly associated with child maltreatment. However, this pattern was not observed among subjects who did not have AFDC. There is an increased incidence of child maltreatment reports in families experiencing PDV. AFDC participation intensified the probability of child maltreatment in the presence of PDV. Findings also suggest that in households experiencing PDV, social supports may protect children from maltreatment.     

The effects of child maltreatment on violent offending among institutionalized youth

While prior literature generally supports the connection between child maltreatment and violent offending in adolescence and early adulthood for general population samples, less is known about the relationship between child maltreatment and the frequency of violent offending among serious juvenile offenders. As a result, few studies have examined whether the effects of child maltreatment on the frequency of violent offending are mediated by other social processes, as developmental models of aggression and violence would suggest. To examine this issue, self-report data on child maltreatment, general delinquency risk factors, and violent offending were collected from 3,694 juveniles confined to 48 correctional institutions. Results from a series of negative binomial regression models indicated that the relationship between child maltreatment and the frequency of violent offending was mediated by social risk factors. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Child maltreatment coordinating committees for effective service delivery

Previous research suggests the importance of multidisciplinary, interagency approaches in creating effective and efficient community service delivery systems for the prevention of child maltreatment. Despite both federal and state mandates for communitywide approaches to service coordination, however, multidisciplinary approaches have generally been untested or underutilized. This article reports a study of the most common mechanism--the community coordinating committee--and offers recommendations to help communities determine readiness for coordinating committee formation, most appropriate committee type and focus, and most effective operating conditions.     

Child maltreatment in the family: a European perspective

Child maltreatment is generally referred to under the global categories of physical, sexual, emotional/psychological abuse and neglect. The Concerted Action on the Prevention of Child Abuse in Europe (CAPCAE) reports on the specific forms of harm and injury, actions and persons believed responsible in eight European countries. The most common actions across all participating countries responsible for harm were those of violent parenting or absent parenting. A review of prevention strategies found that few programmes focused on specific behaviours or included measures to indicate whether their actions were successful in preventing further harm to children. It is recommended that fathers need to be targeted in prevention as well as mothers and that specific data collection of actual harms, actions, persons responsible and outcomes needs to be implemented as a priority in all European countries. Such specificity avoids a focus on risk which is unacceptable in some countries, over inclusive of parents and resource intensive.     

Child maltreatment in Greece: a review of research

Child maltreatment can be traced in Greek mythology, history and literature. Greek society has always used passive or active violence towards its dependent members, including children. In the last 17 years there have been a number of studies describing child maltreatment in contemporary Greece. Most have used small clinical samples; nevertheless, their findings are comparable to those of other countries and their results support the psychopathological causality of child maltreatment. A number of studies on child-rearing practices and on children's socialization have revealed an extensive use of physical punishment related to the child's opposition to parental authority and high parental expectations often linked with the child's school performance. Another small set of studies assessed the effectiveness of social policy and the appropriateness of the child protection system. On the basis of the studies on child maltreatment in Greece, the author proposes firstly the adoption of an operational definition which takes into consideration community attitudes and culture. A second proposal relates to the application of an ecological theoretical model stressing the mutual interaction of different systems and their cumulative effects. Lastly, it is suggested that social policy measures should be introduced in the field of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Child maltreatment victims' attitudes about appearing in dependency and criminal courts

In the present study, we investigated the attitudes of maltreated children involved in court hearings. Specifically, this pilot research examined whether type of abuse (sexual vs. physical vs. neglect), type of court (dependency vs. criminal), and child and abuse characteristics predicted child victims' feelings about seeing defendants in court and answering questions in the courtroom. Data were collected from interviews with the children and from their court files. Results indicated that greater negativity about seeing defendants in the courtroom was significantly predicted by testifying as a sexual abuse victim in criminal court and by being female regardless of court system, whereas greater positivity about seeing defendants in the courtroom was predicted by appearing in dependency court hearings as a physical abuse victim. In addition, greater severity of maltreatment and older age of the children were significantly associated with greater negativity about answering questions in court. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Internalizing symptoms linking youths' maltreatment and delinquent behavior

This study examines internalizing mental health symptoms (depression and posttraumatic stress disorder) as potential intervening factors in the relationship between maltreatment and delinquency using data from the National Survey for Child and Adolescent Well-Being (N = 1179). Significant mediating effects indicated that youth at greater risk of maltreatment experienced higher levels of internalizing symptoms that result in increased risk for delinquent behavior, although longitudinal effects were not supported. These findings highlight internalizing mental health symptoms as an important factor to address in treating victimized children at risk of future delinquency. Implications for child welfare service provision are discussed.     

Child maltreatment in South Korea: An ecological systems analysis

This article reviews risk factors associated with child maltreatment in South Korea within the context of the ecological system theory. Although child maltreatment is a serious concern in South Korea, understanding of this phenomenon is limited because most of the empirical studies address individual characteristics and few consider broader ecological contexts. This review integrates empirical findings on the risk and protective factors associated with child maltreatment in South Korea within the context of micro- (parent-child relationship, intergenerational transmission of abuse, and domestic violence), meso- (interactions between child-teacher and child-parent), exo- (mothers' employment and parents' socio-economic status), macro- (drinking culture and corporal punishment), and chrono-system (Asian economic crisis) levels.     

Child maltreatment in China: An ecological review of the literature

This article presents findings of a systematic review of empirical studies on child maltreatment in China that were published in either English or Chinese. The review uses Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory as a lens to examine risk and protective factors of child maltreatment within micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, and chrono- system levels. A search of 5 electronic bibliographic databases and websites identified 24 outcome studies on child maltreatment in China, which included studies that examined physical/emotional/sexual abuse, and neglect. The most direct influences of child maltreatment in the micro-level system include the parent-child relationship and intergenerational transmission of abuse. At the macro-system level, maltreatment is explained by cultural values such as filial piety and familism. In essence, different factors are found within the various system levels that indicate the complexities of the factors that influence child maltreatment. Throughout the article, we highlight the need to understand the cultural dynamics, values, and mores of Chinese families. The discussion includes practical suggestions and implications for intervention with children, parents, and grandparents that school teachers, social workers, policy makers, and researchers can utilize.     

Child care burden and the risk of child maltreatment among low-income working families

Studies suggest that a substantial proportion of low-income working mothers experience work disruptions and parental stress related to child care, which may lead to increases in the risk of physical and psychological abuse and neglect of children. However, little research has examined the relationship between child care burden and the risk of child maltreatment among low-income working families. Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study 3-year data, this study explores how child care burden is associated with the risk of child maltreatment (physical aggression, psychological aggression, and neglectful behavior) among low-income working mothers. We find that instability in child care arrangements is likely to increase mothers' physical and psychological aggression, while not having someone reliable for emergency child care is likely to increase mothers' neglectful behaviors. Findings also show that the risk of child maltreatment related to child care burden measures is more significant for single mothers than married mothers. Potential policy implications are discussed.     

Parenting as a moderator of minority, adolescent victimization and violent behavior in high-risk neighborhoods

Adolescent male youth in high-crime neighborhoods are at the greatest risk for personal victimization and violent behavior. The temporal relationship between victimization and violent behavior for minority youth in high-crime neighborhoods was examined to determine whether victimization is a risk factor for or by-product of violent behavior. Whether parenting and other control factors moderated the relationship between victimization and violent behavior was also examined. Interviews with 349 urban Hispanic and African American youth revealed that victimization was strongly associated with violent behavior and violent behavior was found to precede direct victimization. Race was found to moderate the relationship between parental attachment and violent behavior. African American youth with the highest levels of parental attachment also had the highest levels of violent behavior, while higher parental attachment for Latino youth was associated with lower violent behavior.     

Affective, behavioral, and social-cognitive dysregulation as mechanisms for sexual abuse revictimization

Using a sample of 1117 female college students, this study examined emotional, behavioral, and social-cognitive mechanisms of sexual abuse revictimization. It was hypothesized that numbing, alexithymia, alcohol problems, mistrust, and adult attachment dimensions would mediate the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and adult sexual abuse (ASA). Aside from the close adult attachment dimension, the results indicated that all of the hypothesized mediators were associated with CSA. However, only alcohol problems and mistrust met the necessary conditions of mediation. The results with respect to mistrust are especially unique in that it is one of the first empirical demonstrations of a social-cognitive mechanism for sexual abuse revictimization. Thus, these results enhance our understanding of interpersonal mediators of the relationship between CSA and ASA and provide a new direction for future research.     

Child maltreatment and criminal convictions in youth: The role of gender,ethnicity and placement experiences in an Australian population

A number of previous studies have shown that out-of-home care (OHC) placement experiences can influence the pathway from maltreatment to offending, and that these pathways may differ depending on gender and ethnic backgrounds. Even though Australian welfare and justice systems are unique in terms of the over-representation of Indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) young people, there have been few Australian longitudinal studies that explore the role of placement experiences in examinations of the maltreatment-offending association. The present study uses linked child protection and youth justice data for 17,671 young people and aims to provide insight into the way ethnicity, as well as gender, moderates the association between maltreatment, placement in OHC and youth convictions. The data were analyzed using logistic regression and the findings varied systematically depending on the type of conviction examined. There was some strong evidence that gender, ethnicity and placement factors moderated the relationship between maltreatment and convictions in general, and for violent convictions more specifically. Interaction effects revealed that placement experiences were more consequential for female than for male youth, but less consequential for Indigenous than for non-Indigenous youth. A one-size-fits-all approach to understanding, treating and preventing the consequences of child maltreatment could not be considered the most appropriate best practice given the gender- and ethnic-specific pathways found in this study.     

Child abuse, early maladaptive schemas, and risky sexual behavior in college women

Previous research suggests that individuals abused as children are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior during adulthood. The present study examined early maladaptive schemas as mediators of the child abuse-risky sexual behavior relationship among 653 college women. Self-report surveys assessed three forms of child abuse: Sexual, physical, and emotional, and assessed early maladaptive schemas within two domains: Disconnection/rejection and Other-Directedness. Disconnection/rejection schemas fully mediated the relation between child emotional abuse and number of sexual partners and partially mediated the relationship for sexual and physical abuse. However, when frequency of specific risky sexual acts (e.g., sex without contraception) was examined in the previous six months, only abandonment was a partial mediator. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.     

Physical and mental health outcomes of women in nonviolent, unilaterally violent, and mutually violent relationships

Despite equivocal findings on whether men or women are more violent, the negative impact of violence is greatest for women. To determine how gender asymmetry in perpetration affects women's health status, we conducted a study in two phases with 835 African American, Euro-American, and Mexican American low-income women in Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women. In Phase 1, we used severity and frequency of women's and male partners' violence to create six groups: nonviolent (NV), uni-directional male (UM) perpetrator, uni-directional female (UF) perpetrator and, when both partners were violent, symmetrical (SYM), male primary perpetrator (MPP), and female primary perpetrator (FPP). The MPP group sustained the most threats, violence, sexual aggression, and psychological abuse. They also reported the most fear. Injury was highest in the MPP and FPP groups. In Phase 2, we examined group differences in women's health status over time for 535 participants, who completed five annual interviews. Surprisingly, women's health in the MPP and FPP violence groups was similar and generally worse than if violence was uni-directional.     

Sexual coercion within mixed-sex couples: the roles of sexual motives, revictimization, and reperpetration

Research suggests that a history of childhood sexual abuse, and previous experiences of sexual coercion, may predict sexual coercion victimization and perpetration. More recently, sexual motivation has been found to correlate with both consensual and non-consensual sexual activity. However, sexual motivation has not been examined in association with previous experiences of abuse and sexual coercion. The aim of this study was to investigate childhood sexual abuse, previous sexual coercion experiences, and sexual motives of both partners as possible risk factors for current sexual coercion victimization and perpetration within a sample of 209 mixed-sex couples. This study examined whether power, stress relief, partner pressure, and imposition motives contributed unique variance to the prediction of sexual coercion beyond that accounted for by past childhood sexual abuse and sexual coercion events. Using hierarchical logistic regressions, four predictive models were examined for both male and female sexual coercion perpetration and victimization. Results show that childhood sexual abuse was only a significant predictor of female sexual coercion perpetration, whereas male sexual coercion victimization and perpetration were predicted by sexual coercion victimization and perpetration in previous relationships. Power motives were also significant predictors of sexual coercion perpetration, and imposition was a significant predictor of sexual coercion victimization for both genders.