Examining Racial Differences in Internalizing and Externalizing Diagnoses for Children Exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences

Clinical Social Work Journal - A substantial evidence base has established both that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) deleteriously impact youth mental health outcomes and that racial biases in...     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Grade Retention in a National Sample of US Children*

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include extreme economic hardship, abuse, neglect, household and family dysfunction, and exposure to community violence. Children with ACEs are at a higher risk of developing mental, physical, and developmental disorders that can lead to difficulty in school. Using the 2012 National Survey of Children's Health, we use multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between ACEs and grade retention and the moderating effects of race/ethnicity on this relationship. Results indicate that specific ACEs are related to higher rates of grade retention (economic hardship, parental incarceration, neighborhood violence, and witnessing domestic violence). Children reporting three or more ACEs were at a significantly higher risk of grade retention compared to children with zero reported ACEs. Further, patterns differed among black children in the sample with higher numbers of ACEs not increasing retention rates for black children compared to white children. This study improves our understanding of the relationship between ACEs and grade retention, but also raises questions about differing patterns among racially and ethnically diverse student populations that warrants further study.     

Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence Describe Their Experiences: A Typology-Based Qualitative Analysis

Although much is known about the impact of intimate partner violence on children, few empirical studies have linked children’s experiences to typologies. This qualitative study, based on interviews with children 8–12 years of age living at women’s shelters in Sweden, explores how children describe the nature of the violence they have been exposed to with the aim of identifying patterns in the children’s experiences. The typologies developed by Johnson and colleagues and by Holtzworth-Munroe and colleagues are used as an analytical framework for analysis. Three main types of children’s experiences of intimate partner violence were identified: “Obedience-Demanding Violence,” “Chronic and Mean Violence,” and “Parenthood-Embedded Violence.” These the types can improve our understanding of the complex variety of children’s experiences of parental IPV by acknowledging how from children’s perspectives, experiences of IPV are closely connected to the perpetrator being their parent. The study provides examples of three different strategies that have implications for the factors that social workers may want to address when making judgments about custody, place of residence, and contact.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Healthcare Costs in Adult Life

ABSTRACT

The current study aims to present the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences and examine the healthcare costs associated with primary, allied, and specialist healthcare services. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health is a general health survey of four nationally representative age cohorts. The current study uses 20 years of survey and administrative data (1996–2015) from the cohort born 1973–1978. Overall, 41% of women indicated at least one category of childhood adversity. The most commonly reported type of childhood adversity was having a household member with a mental illness (16%), with the most commonly reported ACES category being psychological abuse (17%). Women who had experienced adversity in childhood had higher healthcare costs than women who had not experienced adversity. The healthcare costs associated with experiences of adversity in childhood fully justify a comprehensive policy and practice review.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Gambling: Results From a National Survey

Pathological gambling disorder and problem gambling are addictive disorders with severe consequences for individuals, families, and society. Knowledge about associations between childhood adverse experiences (i.e., physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) and gambling pathology in adulthood is limited. Using data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), associations between adverse childhood experiences and lifetime gambling status were tested. Strong bivariate associations between adverse childhood experiences and gambling status were found, which were attenuated with the inclusion of clinical covariates. Adverse childhood experiences might be related to pathological gambling in adulthood, but this relationship might not be gambling-specific.     

Group Interventions for Children Having Separated Parents: A Systematic Narrative Review

The aims of this article are to review the current body of knowledge on group interventions for children with separated or divorced parents and to provide new insights into the evaluation of their efficacy. This review draws on a method of systematic narrative review (SNR). We provide a narrative synthesis of evidence from 29 studies conducted between 1980 and 2014, which were included in the SNR consistently with the inclusion criteria established. Three dimensions were considered: intervention characteristics, study characteristics, and intervention outcomes (i.e., types of outcomes and efficacy). Our findings showed a general inconsistency among the studies, which was discussed in the light of some important methodological issues.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Disordered Gambling: Assessing the Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as sexual and physical abuse, have been established as risk factors for the development of disordered gambling. The underlying mechanism by which ACEs influence disordered gambling, however, remains unknown. The aims of the present research were to comprehensively investigate ten types of childhood adversity and their relationships to disordered gambling in adulthood, and to test whether emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between ACEs and disordered gambling. A sample of community gamblers (N = 414) completed self-report measures of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, and gambling severity. Results revealed a significant association between all but one type (physical abuse) of ACEs and disordered gambling. Further, the results highlighted the cumulative impact of ACEs on gambling. Specifically, individuals who experienced three or more types of ACEs were more than three times as likely to report disordered gambling as compared to individuals with no history of childhood adversity. Importantly, as hypothesized, emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between ACEs and disordered gambling. Findings from this research describe the association between ACEs and gambling and indicate a causal link between childhood adversity and disordered gambling. Results suggest that treatment initiatives may do well to address both ACEs and emotion dysregulation in the treatment of problem gambling.     

Sexual Violence Against Children in Sports and Exercise: A Systematic Literature Review

Sexual violence against children in sports receives little research attention. The aim of this Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses-based systematic literature review was to synthesize the up-to-date knowledge and identify the already known and the still unknown information in this area. The literature search yielded seven eligible studies for inclusion. Their key outcomes suggest that sexual violence against children in sports is prevalent. Girls are more often the victims than boys, but gender appears to mediate the disclosure. Minority groups are at higher risk for sexual violence, and athletes at higher levels of competition seem to be more vulnerable for grooming. While the coach is often seen as the perpetrator, new research suggests that peer-athletes may precede the coach. Disclosure is a problem, due to personal and interpersonal concerns, which deters scholastic research in this area. In the final section of the review, a “what we know” and “what we need to know” list of highlights is offered as the concluding summary of the review. These factual points could raise the awareness of parents and/or guardians about the vulnerability of their children to sexual abuse if they are involved in sports. They could also attract the attention of the policy makers to the urgent need of developing and implementing preventive measures to make sports and exercise environments pleasurable and safe for children.     

Shame and Guilt in Men Exposed to Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Qualitative Investigation

This study examined the experiences of shame and guilt in adult males sexually abused as children. Seven participants attending a service for male sexual abuse completed measures of shame, guilt, dissociation, and childhood trauma history and subsequently participated in a focus group. All participants experienced childhood sexual abuse in the “severe” range and showed elevated scores for shame, guilt, and dissociation. Four superordinate themes with associated subordinate themes emerged: (a) self-as-shame (foundations of self-as-shame, fear of exposure, temporary antidote: connection), (b) pervasiveness and power of doubt and denial (from others, from self, consequences of incredulity), (c) uncontrollability (of problems after disclosure, of rage, of intrusions and emotional pain), and (d) dissociation. Results are discussed with reference to the existing literature and the emerging “self-as-shame” construct, which appeared to encapsulate participants’ view of themselves.     

Fathering With Multiple Partners: Links to Children's Well‐Being in Early Childhood

The claim that multiple partner fertility may pose a risk of adverse outcomes for children has not been tested. We test this argument using a sample of 4,027 resident fathers and children from the Fragile Families and Child Well‐being Survey by examining the pathways through which fathers' multipartnered fertility is associated with children's externalizing behaviors and physical health status at 36 months. Path analyses indicate that multiple partner fertility exerted both a significant direct and indirect effect through paternal depression to influence children's externalizing behaviors. Fathers' multiple partner fertility also exerted a significant indirect effect through one mediator—father involvement—to influence children's physical health. This evidence suggests that the disruptions brought about by multipartnered fertility are important for understanding child well‐being.     

Children Exposed to Community Violence: Issues for Assessment and Treatment

Community violence is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for serious psychological problems with children particularly vulnerable to its effects. This article summarizes the existing knowledge on the effects of chronic exposure to community violence, highlights essential issues in assessing children for both exposure and resulting trauma from community violence, and provides treatment guidelines for those affected children.     

A Systematic Review of Strengths and Resilience Outcome Literature Relevant to Children and Adolescents

The concepts of strengths and resilience are essential for understanding and promoting positive development in children and adolescents. These concepts have been studied in the research literature for many years and more recently have been applied to child and adolescent assessment and intervention research. However, strength and resilience based intervention programs have not been evaluated rigorously for their use of empirical methodology. In this article, we systematically identified and reviewed all of the outcome studies over the last decade for strength and resilience based intervention programs to assess the extent to which these studies utilized controlled empirical methodology. The results of the review yielded 11 outcome studies that examined strength and resilience based practices. Using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project, we found three studies to be high quality, exhibiting high levels of experimentally controlled research. The remaining 8 studies we considered to be moderate to weak quality research. We concluded that these 11 studies provide preliminary support for the efficacy of strength and resilience based interventions. Our systematic review also highlights areas where methodology in future studies can be strengthened to provide more conclusive evidence of these approaches.     

A Study of Adopted Children,Their Environment,and Development: A Systematic Review

The study explores the developmental consequences for children who have been adopted. The comparison group is comprised of their non-adopted siblings or children in foster homes or group care. A search in scientific databases resulted in more than 3,300 hits about adoption. Among these, 56 fulfilled the selection criteria from 17 studies across more than 2,000 adoptees and controls. Adopted children scored higher on IQ, school-performance, and lack of behavioral problems than their non-adopted siblings or peers who stayed behind in orphanages or foster homes. The results from OECD countries were similar to those from studies in Chile, Lebanon, and India.     

The Everyday Costs of Poverty in Childhood: A Review of Qualitative Research Exploring the Lives and Experiences of Low‐Income Children in the UK

This review of 10 years of qualitative research with disadvantaged children in the UK shows that despite some gaps in the knowledge base, there is now a substantive body of evidence exploring children’s lives and experiences from their own perspectives. The review reveals that poverty penetrates deep into the heart of childhood, permeating every facet of children’s lives from economic and material disadvantage, through the structuring and limiting of social relationships and social participation to the most personal often hidden aspects of disadvantage associated with shame, sadness and the fear of social difference and marginalisation.     

The Relationship Between Family Mealtime Interactions and Eating Disorder in Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review

During childhood and adolescence, family meal frequency has been found to have an inverse relationship with disordered eating behaviour. Also, family interactional patterns differ in families where there is a child with and without an eating disorder. This paper examines the relationship between family mealtime interactions during childhood and adolescence and eating disorder behaviour through a systematic review of the literature. The method was an asystematic electronic search of PsycInfo, Medline and Web of Knowledge undertaken in April 2012. Ten studies demonstrated a significant relationship between family mealtime interactions and disordered eating behaviour. Families where there is a child with an eating disorder display less positive interactions during mealtimes. While the findings can be linked to family based treatment for anorexia nervosa there is a need for prospective research in this area.