The effect of experience of childhood abuse among university students on self-perception and submissive behavior

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of experience of childhood abuse among university students on self-perception and submissive behavior.

Methods

The study group consisted of 646 students attending various departments of the Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Education in Trabzon, Turkey. Participants were administered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Social Comparison Scale and the Submissive Acts Scale in a classroom setting.

Results

Analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between self-perception and all forms of abuse (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse and neglect), and a positive correlation between submissive behavior and all forms of abuse. The students' emotional abuse and neglect scores varied significantly according to gender, with males having higher emotional abuse and neglect scores than those of girls. Additionally, males had higher physical abuse scores than girls.

Conclusion

Childhood abuse emerged as a significant predictor of negative self-perception and submissive behavior. In addition, with the exception of sexual abuse, other forms of abuse vary according to gender. The experiences of childhood abuse may have a long-term impact on various features of character and behavior.     

Predictors of treatment outcome in a child and adolescent psychiatry clinic: A naturalistic exploration

We present data on predictors of treatment outcome for 3200 consecutive referrals to a child and adolescent psychiatry clinic. Using Reliable Change Index (RCI) methodology, we divided children into those who, between intake and discharge, improved, stayed the same, or got worse according to clinician-rated impairment. Most predictors of improvement were related to parent variables (marital status, maternal anxiety, and ethnicity), while those associated with deterioration were tied to child status (extent of psychiatric comorbidity, history of placement in a self-contained classroom, and a prior trial of psychotropic medications). The implications of these findings for data-driven program development, clinic management, treatment planning, and systems of care are discussed.     

Participation for children exposed to domestic violence? Social workers' approaches and children's strategies

This article explores social workers' approaches to children exposed to domestic violence and children's strategies in encounters with these professionals in the context of family law proceedings. Investigator approaches as well as child strategies are reconstructed from children's narratives. Furthermore, possible links between the social worker's approach described by a particular child, and the child's own strategies are outlined. Participation can offer children validation of their experiences and support their recovery after exposure to violence. However, it is suggested that it seems to be a challenging task for social workers to both validate children's experiences of violence and simultaneously offer them participation in the investigation process.     

Relationship Churning and Parenting Stress Among Mothers and Fathers

Researchers have documented the consequences of relationship instability for parenting stress but have given little attention to within‐partner relationship instability. In this study, the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,544) to estimate the association between within‐partner relationship instability (known as churning or on‐again/off‐again relationships) and parenting stress. First, they found that by the focal child's 5th birthday about 16% of biological parents experience churning. Second, compared to being stably together with or stably separated from the child's other parent, churning is associated with greater parenting stress for both mothers and fathers. Because parenting stress is the same or higher among churners compared to their counterparts who stably separate, this suggests that, more than a change in partner, relationship instability—whether within or across relationships—is tied to parenting stress.     

A consortium approach for child and family practice education

Child and family practice and child protection are extraordinarily complex. They require in-depth understanding of intra- and inter-personal skills and intricate service systems, and capacity to operate in a constantly changing policy environment. One way of meeting the needs of such practitioners is facilitating their access to experts working across direct practice, management and leadership and policy-making contexts. This article discusses the rationale for collaboratively delivered post-qualifying courses for child and family practitioners, and discusses a highly successful example of such courses delivered through La Trobe University. It outlines the unique developmental process and model of delivery adopted by the consortium responsible for the postgraduate programme. It concludes with reference to early evaluative findings indicating it as a promising pedagogical model.     

‘Cultivating our humanity’ in child and family social work in England

The goal of the social work reform process was to provide a generic framework and single professional body within a broad conception of generic social work. However, debates about the role and nature of social work continue to exist. This paper explores whether contemporary child and family social work is inclined at times to make use of a less humane social work practice with families and children. The policy context and the culture of child and family social work are considered. Implications for social work education are identified. The key message of this paper is twofold. There is a tendency in contemporary child and family social work to become synonymous with a particular version of child protection. The type of child protection adopted tends to be authoritarian with at times a limited consideration of the humanity of parents and adult carers in particular.     

Pathways of disadvantage: Explaining the relationship between maternal depression and children’s problem behaviors

A large body of literature documents that children of depressed mothers have impaired cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes throughout the life course, though much less is known about the mechanisms linking maternal depression to children’s outcomes. In this paper, I use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to estimate and explain the consequences of maternal depression for 5-year-old children’s internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Ordinary least squared (OLS) regression models and propensity score models show that children exposed to both chronic and intermittent maternal depression have more problem behaviors than their counterparts with never depressed mothers. Results also show that economic resources and maternal parenting behaviors mediate much of the association between maternal depression and children’s problem behaviors, but that relationships with romantic partners and social support do little to explain this association. This research extends past literature by illuminating some mechanisms through which maternal depression matters for children; by utilizing longitudinal measures of depression; by employing rigorous statistical techniques to lend confidence to the findings; and by using a large, diverse, and non-clinical sample of children most susceptible to maternal depression. Given that early childhood problem behaviors lay a crucial foundation for short- and long-term life trajectories, the social consequences of maternal depression may be far-reaching.     

Predicting adoption dissolutions for children involved in the child welfare system

While the majority of foster care adoptions are stable and secure, some dissolve, resulting in the return of children to the system. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with children’s reentry into the foster care system after adoptions are formally finalized. Using case records from the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) Bureau of Information Systems (BIS), we compared 123 dissolved adoptions to 74 successful ones. We found that children’s gender, history of physical abuse, exposure to drug use, and the number of foster care placements prior to adoption are associated with greater odds of dissolution. Furthermore, the odds of dissolution were higher for relative adoptive parents and for adoptive parents with prior substantiated Child Welfare cases. Implications for practice include ongoing targeted training and supportive services for families and improved screening procedures that address the unique needs of adoptive parents.     

陈鹤琴“活教育”思想特点及其现代价值

陈鹤琴“活教育”思想是在批判民国时期旧教育基础上提出。通过对比分析法评析新旧教育之差别，可以看出“活教育”思想具有以下特点：树立以幼儿为中心的儿童观；注重行为习惯的养成；采取以“做”为中心的教学方法；采用分组教学、集体研讨的教学策略丰富幼儿的情感体验；为幼儿创设良好的教学环境。陈鹤琴“活教育”思想对当前的教育理念、教育方式等具有重要启示意义。     

Judging childhood

This article brings ethnohistorical inquiry to bear in exploring the certainties of Progressive Era reformers regarding the role of the state, the meaning of childhood, and the power of intervention in the lives of children, youth, and families in Butte, Montana. The author draws on the key themes of the Just Practice perspective (Finn & Jacobson, 2008)—as an organizing frame to explore assumptions and contestations regarding childhood, well-being, trouble, and intervention as expressed through primary source documents and reports of juvenile court proceedings in Butte from 1900 to 1914. Butte, a site of rapid industrialization at the turn of the last century, provides a local context in which to examine ways these certainties were asserted, negotiated, embedded, and resisted in the making of a nascent system of child welfare and juvenile justice. The historical analysis offers a foundation for critical reflection on the certainties embedded in contemporary practice with children and youth.