1
|
McGuire A, Gabrielli J, Jackson Y. Trying to Fit a Square Peg in a Round Hole? Testing the Robustness of Maltreatment Measurement Models for Youth. CHILD MALTREATMENT 2024; 29:233-245. [PMID: 36592333 PMCID: PMC11132252 DOI: 10.1177/10775595221149447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Research on maltreatment exposure often demonstrates mixed findings and a potential explanation for this may be the measurement of maltreatment. One approach for addressing measurement concerns, which also accounts for maltreatment's multidimensional nature, is the use of a measurement or latent model. However, there is minimal evidence on the generalizability of this approach across populations of youth. This study examined measurement invariance of a one-factor maltreatment model across two samples of youth exposed to maltreatment using case file data from the SPARK and LONGSCAN datasets (N = 1286). Results showed that only partial metric invariance could be established for the one-factor model between SPARK and LONGSCAN subsamples, and neglect and emotional abuse indicators tended to show low factor loadings. Findings highlight the need to consider how potential differences in documentation and maltreatment rates influence model performance and the need for research on which maltreatment characteristics may best capture youths' experiences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Austen McGuire
- Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Joy Gabrielli
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida Health, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Yo Jackson
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Font SA, Kennedy R, Littleton T. Child protective services involvement and exclusionary school discipline. Child Dev 2023; 94:1625-1641. [PMID: 37161769 PMCID: PMC10636238 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
The study examined the impact of child protective services (CPS) contact on out-of-school suspensions for 49,918 Wisconsin students (followed from ages 5-6 to 14-15; [school years 2010-2019; 74% White; 7% Black; 11% Hispanic; 8% other; 49% female]). A quasi-experimental design comparing recent CPS contact to upcoming (future) CPS contact shows that both recent CPS contact without foster care and future CPS contact predict higher odds of suspension compared with no contact. Higher odds of suspension emerged prior to CPS contact and did not substantially increase during or after CPS contact, suggesting that system-induced stress is not a primary driver of behavioral problems leading to suspension. Foster care reduced the odds of suspension among White children and children in special education.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A. Font
- Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Reeve Kennedy
- East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
O'Hare K, Tzoumakis S, Watkeys O, Katz I, Laurens KR, Butler M, Harris F, Carr VJ, Green MJ. Out-of-home care characteristics associated with childhood educational underachievement, mental disorder, and police contacts in an Australian population sample. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2023; 139:106120. [PMID: 36863202 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2022] [Revised: 01/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Children in out-of-home care (OOHC) are generally at increased risk of health and social adversities compared to their peers. However, the experiences of children in OOHC are not uniform and their associated health and social indices may vary in relation to characteristics of OOHC placements and child protection contact. OBJECTIVE To examine associations between a range of characteristics of OOHC placements and child protection contact (e.g., number, type, and age of placement) with educational underachievement, mental disorder, and police contact (as a victim, witness, or person of interest) in childhood. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Participants were Australian children drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study cohort who had been placed in OOHC at least once between the ages of 0-13 years (n = 2082). METHODS Logistic regression was used to examine prospective associations of OOHC placement and child protection contact characteristics (type of carer, placement instability, duration and frequency of maltreatment, and amount of time in care) with educational underachievement, mental disorder diagnosis and any type of police contact. RESULTS Placements with foster carers, greater placement instability, longer and more frequent exposure to maltreatment, and longer time spent in care were each associated with greater likelihood of consequences in all domains of functioning. CONCLUSIONS Children with certain placement characteristics are at higher risk of adverse consequences and should be prioritised for support services. The magnitude of relationships was not uniform across different health and social indices, highlighting the need for holistic, multiagency approaches to support children placed in care.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kirstie O'Hare
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Stacy Tzoumakis
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Southport, Australia
| | - Oliver Watkeys
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Ilan Katz
- Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Kristin R Laurens
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Queensland University of Technology (QUT), School of Psychology and Counselling, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Merran Butler
- New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice, Australia
| | - Felicity Harris
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Vaughan J Carr
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Melissa J Green
- Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Yeung JWK, Chen HF, Lo HHM, Xu L, Xu C. Minor Forms of Parental Maltreatment and Educational Achievement of Immigrant Youths in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2023; 20:873. [PMID: 36613192 PMCID: PMC9819920 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20010873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Parental hostility and emotional rejection-or aggregated as general harsh family interactions with parents-have received little research attention due to such parent-child interactions being counted as minor forms of parental maltreatment and regarded as being less harmful. However, recent research showed that these minor forms of parental maltreatment on youth development are far from negligibility on account of their frequency, chronicity, and incessancy. In this longitudinal study, we investigated how parental hostility, emotional rejection, and harsh family interactions with parents of in early adolescence of immigrant youths (wave-1 Mage = 14) adversely impact successful college graduation of immigrant youths in young adulthood (wave-3 Mage = 24) through the mediation of their development of academic aspirations in late adolescence (wave-2 Mage = 17). Using data from a representative sample of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (N = 3344), the current study revealed that parental hostility, emotional rejection, and harsh family interactions with parents significantly impaired successful college graduation of immigrant youths in young adulthood, with the decreased odds of 20.1% to 30.22%. Furthermore, academic aspirations of immigrant youths in late adolescence not only significantly mediated the abovementioned relationships but also contributed to the higher odds of immigrant youths' college graduation by 2.226 to 2.257 times. Findings of this study related to educational innovations, family services, and policy implications are discussed herein.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jerf W. K. Yeung
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
| | - Hui-Fang Chen
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
| | - Herman H. M. Lo
- Professional Practice and Assessment Centre, Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
| | - Leilei Xu
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
| | - Chi Xu
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Complex early childhood experiences: Characteristics of Northern Territory children across health, education and child protection data. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0280648. [PMID: 36656893 PMCID: PMC9851518 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Early identification of vulnerable children to protect them from harm and support them in achieving their long-term potential is a community priority. This is particularly important in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, where Aboriginal children are about 40% of all children, and for whom the trauma and disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal Australians has ongoing intergenerational impacts. Given that shared social determinants influence child outcomes across the domains of health, education and welfare, there is growing interest in collaborative interventions that simultaneously respond to outcomes in all domains. There is increasing recognition that many children receive services from multiple NT government agencies, however there is limited understanding of the pattern and scale of overlap of these services. In this paper, NT health, education, child protection and perinatal datasets have been linked for the first time. The records of 8,267 children born in the NT in 2006-2009 were analysed using a person-centred analytic approach. Unsupervised machine learning techniques were used to discover clusters of NT children who experience different patterns of risk. Modelling revealed four or five distinct clusters including a cluster of children who are predominantly ill and experience some neglect, a cluster who predominantly experience abuse and a cluster who predominantly experience neglect. These three, high risk clusters all have low school attendance and together comprise 10-15% of the population. There is a large group of thriving children, with low health needs, high school attendance and low CPS contact. Finally, an unexpected cluster is a modestly sized group of non-attendees, mostly Aboriginal children, who have low school attendance but are otherwise thriving. The high risk groups experience vulnerability in all three domains of health, education and child protection, supporting the need for a flexible, rather than strictly differentiated response. Interagency cooperation would be valuable to provide a suitably collective and coordinated response for the most vulnerable children.
Collapse
|
6
|
Semsar N, Mousavi Z, Tran MLM, Kuhlman KR. Dysregulated arousal as a pathway linking childhood neglect and clinical sleep disturbances in adulthood. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2021; 122:105306. [PMID: 34507018 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 06/18/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A history of childhood maltreatment has a well-established association with clinical sleep disturbances in adulthood, which is a transdiagnostic contributor to many chronic diseases. OBJECTIVE Determine whether actigraphy-measured indices of dysregulated arousal during sleep explain associations between abuse or neglect in childhood and clinical sleep disturbances in adulthood. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Participants were 646 individuals, ages 25-83 (59.3% female) from the MIDUS II Biomarker, Refresher studies. METHODS Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, wore an actigraph for seven days, and rated sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). RESULTS Both neglect (b = 0.66, SE = 0.33, p = .04) and abuse (b = 1.09, SE = 0.32, p < .001) were associated with clinical sleep disturbance. Actigraphy-measured sleep efficiency mediated the link between neglect and clinical sleep disturbances (ab = 0.33, SE = 0.12, 95%CI [0.12, 0.57]). However, no such link between abuse and clinical sleep disturbances was mediated by actigraphy-measured indices. Sleep onset latency did not mediate the link between neglect or abuse and sleep disturbance. Models covaried for other maltreatment, gender, and age. CONCLUSIONS While the unique associations between abuse or neglect and clinical sleep disturbances were robust in this sample, only sleep efficiency emerged as a mediator linking maltreatment and clinical sleep disturbances. Critically, this mediation was specific to neglect. Abuse and neglect may lead to disease through distinct pathways. Moreover, potential dysregulation in arousal that leads to sleep inefficiency may be a specific pathway through which experiences of neglect in childhood contribute to chronic disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Neda Semsar
- Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| | - Zahra Mousavi
- Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| | - Mai-Lan M Tran
- Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA
| | - Kate R Kuhlman
- Department of Psychological Science, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA; Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA; Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
McGuire A, Huffhines L, Jackson Y. The trajectory of PTSD among youth in foster care: A survival analysis examining maltreatment experiences prior to entry into care. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2021; 115:105026. [PMID: 33721660 PMCID: PMC8052914 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2020] [Revised: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Youth in foster care are more likely than non-foster care youth to experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While research has identified maltreatment as a risk factor for PTSD, this research remains limited because it tends to only (a) examine a single type or dimension of maltreatment and ignore the polyvictimization and heterogeneity in exposure, and (b) study this relation across a short period time or retrospectively at the end of care. OBJECTIVE The current study used survival analysis to simultaneously examine the influence of maltreatment characteristics on the risk of receiving a PTSD diagnosis at any time in care following entry into care. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING 291 youth (Mean age at entry = 9.71; 53 % female; 49 % Black) in foster care and their primary caregivers from a large, Midwestern county. METHODS Information on PTSD diagnosis was extracted from Medicaid records, and information on maltreatment and time in care was extracted from case files. Survival analysis was then used to determine the association between maltreatment and risk of PTSD diagnosis. RESULTS When examined independently, each dimension (frequency, severity) of the four maltreatment types was significantly associated with PTSD diagnosis risk (all hazard ratio's [HR] > 1.00), except sexual abuse frequency. In the comprehensive model with all dimensions examined simultaneously, only neglect frequency for youth entering care in adolescence (HR: 1.13[1.03-1.23]), and neglect severity (HR: 1.27[1.05-1.52]) and emotional abuse frequency (HR: 1.24[1.00-1.53]) for youth entering care pre-adolescence, were associated with PTSD diagnosis risk. Additionally, age of entry into care was associated with PTSD diagnosis risk (HR: 2.34[1.88-2.92]), as adolescents tended to spend fewer days in care before receiving a diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that researchers who study PTSD in youth in foster care should consider the entirety of youth's maltreatment exposure and the context of care to more accurately determine what aspects of youth's history contributes to receiving a PTSD diagnosis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Austen McGuire
- Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Dole Human Development Building, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA.
| | - Lindsay Huffhines
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, 02906, USA; Bradley/Hasbro Children's Research Center, E.P. Bradley Hospital, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Yo Jackson
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Lombera A, Lee AH, Sharma-Patel K, Brown EJ. Threat-specific maltreatment exposure: Comparison of measurement models and associations with internalizing, externalizing, and PTSD symptoms. CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 2021; 115:105010. [PMID: 33639557 DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/13/2021] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Child maltreatment is associated with short- and long-term mental health sequelae. Extant research has demonstrated that exposure characteristics (i.e., severity, frequency, duration, onset) are important in the measurement of maltreatment experiences. Emerging research has highlighted the contributions of these characteristics on symptom outcomes. OBJECTIVE The current study used multiple exposure characteristics of threat-specific types of maltreatment (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing domestic violence) to examine three distinct measurement models of maltreatment and their relation to symptoms. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING A racially and ethnically diverse sample of treatment-seeking youth (74 % female) ages 4-17 (N = 348) participated in the study. The majority of the youth (61 %) endorsed experiencing more than one type of threat-specific maltreatment. METHOD Using Structural Equation Modeling, we tested one-factor, three-factor, and bifactor models of maltreatment characteristics, and hypothesized that the bifactor model would yield the best fitting model based on prior studies supporting family violence as an underlying factor for child physical abuse and domestic violence. RESULTS The bifactor measurement model fit the data better than the three- and one-factor models. In the bifactor structural model that included symptom outcomes, physical abuse was significantly and positively associated with child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, whereas sexual abuse and witnessing domestic violence were associated with externalizing symptoms and PTSD. CONCLUSION Our findings support the inclusion of multiple exposure characteristics in the measurement of maltreatment and suggest that specific types of threat-specific maltreatment may have distinct associations with mental health sequelae.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Amy Hyoeun Lee
- Child HELP Partnership, St. John's University, United States
| | | | - Elissa J Brown
- Child HELP Partnership, St. John's University, United States
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Washington T, Stewart CJ, Rose RA. Academic Trajectories of Children in Formal and Informal Kinship Care. Child Dev 2021; 92:2299-2316. [PMID: 33913158 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The academic achievement places children on a positive trajectory for their lifespan. The aim of this study was to examine the academic trajectories of children in out-of-home care (OOCH) and whether kinship care has a protective effect relative to nonkin foster care. The sample analyzed for this study consists of 519,306 racially diverse youth in North Carolina schools 8 to 11 years old in the school year 2009-2010 (e.g., 27% African American, 12% Latinx, 53% White). Four longitudinal administrative data sources were merged to create this unique sample. Multilevel modeling revealed no difference between formal and non-OOHC, but showed differences between nonkin foster, informal, and non-OOHC. Children's academic performance who reside in formal kinship care is similar to children in non-OOHC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - C Joy Stewart
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work
| | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
Leonard SS, Gudiño OG. Beyond School Engagement: School Adaptation and Its Role in Bolstering Resilience Among Youth Who Have Been Involved with Child Welfare Services. CHILD & YOUTH CARE FORUM 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10566-020-09577-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
11
|
McGuire A, Jackson Y. The Role of Trauma Type and Age in the Relation Between Trauma Exposure and Intelligence. CHILD MALTREATMENT 2020; 25:192-202. [PMID: 31288552 DOI: 10.1177/1077559519860596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Experiencing potentially traumatic events (PTEs) is associated with deficits in cognitive functioning for youth. Previous research has demonstrated that PTE type may influence the association between PTE experiences and intelligence, such that IQ scores may differ by the type of PTE experienced. Additionally, mixed findings in the literature suggest that these associations might differ by age. The current study examined the association between PTE type and IQ and how age may moderate this association. In a sample of youth in foster care (N = 328, Mage = 13.25), physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and family PTEs were directly associated with verbal and nonverbal IQ. Age significantly moderated the association between IQ and neglect and academic PTEs. Results suggest that broad PTE grouping methods or failing to account for both maltreatment and general PTEs in samples of youth in foster care may conceal differences in how PTEs relate to intellectual functioning.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Austen McGuire
- Clinical Child Psychology Program, Dole Human Development Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
| | - Yo Jackson
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| |
Collapse
|