Social support, collective efficacy, and child physical abuse: does parent gender matter?

Exploring Gender Moderation: The Impact of Neighborhood Factors on Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Limited previous studies investigated the influences of various types of neighborhood factors on adolescent behavior problems. Meanwhile, although previous theoretical frameworks suggested that gender played a significant role in terms of neighborhood impacts on adolescent behavioral problems, few studies investigated the gender differences in such neighborhood influences. Using the year 9 and year 15 data of the national dataset Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS, overly sampled participants from low-income families), this study examined how the neighborhood structural and process factors can affect adolescent behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing symptoms) and whether gender worked as a significant moderator for such relationships in the U.S. Structural equation models and multigroup SEM were estimated (N = 3411). Findings suggested that residential instability was associated with increased levels of internalizing symptoms among adolescents at age 15, whereas neighborhood social cohesion was linked to reduced levels of externalizing symptoms throughout adolescence. Furthermore, the moderating effects of gender were found for the association between residential instability and internalizing symptoms. Implications of such findings are further discussed.

Parental Risk and Protective Factors in Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

This study systematically reviews and synthesizes evidence on parental risk and protective factors along with identifying differences in the presence of these factors based on maltreatment type. In all, 68 quantitative, published, empirical studies were included from electronic databases for the systematic review. Quality appraisal did not exclude any studies and data were extracted from all. Results were narratively synthesized using the Risk and Resilience Ecological framework. The findings revealed more risk factors on the micro (individual and family) ecological level compared to mezzo and macro levels. At the micro level, findings mirror results of prior systematic reviews such as parental substance abuse, history of childhood maltreatment, and intimate partner violence (IPV). Social support was the most significant protective factor across all ecological levels and across all maltreatment types except child sexual abuse but differed in definition widely across studies. Physical abuse had the most risk factors unique to this type followed by neglect, and IPV was a common risk factor across all maltreatment types. Fewer studies on emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and protective factors were identified. The findings of this review delineated key parental risk and protective factors at various ecological levels along with associations between distinct factors and types of maltreatment. Interventions working with parents to reduce child maltreatment risk can use these findings to guide development of targeted programs for families based on risk and maltreatment type. For researchers, the findings can guide further investigation in under-researched areas of parental sexual and emotional abuse and protective factors.

Parenting Role in the Development of Borderline Personality Disorder

The progressively improving understanding of the borderline personality disorder (BPD) has led to an increased interest in the better clarification of the integrated role of biological and psychosocial factors in the underlying pathophysiology of this condition. The influence of early childhood interactions and stress exposure in shaping our personalities during adulthood cannot be emphasized enough. In this review, we discuss the critical role of parenting-related factors including maladaptive parenting, parenting styles, and parenting psychopathology as early childhood influences in the developmental psychopathology of BPD. Protective factors that may impact the development of this disorder and possible preventive interventions are also briefly reviewed.

Childhood Maltreatment and Life Satisfaction in Chinese Student Preschool Teachers: The Roles of Resilience and Social Support

Although some studies have explored the relationships between childhood maltreatment and life satisfaction, few studies have explored the pathways between those two variables in a sample of student preschool teachers. The current study, thus, attempts to explore the relationships between childhood maltreatment and life satisfaction in Chinese student preschool teachers and to examine the roles of resilience and social support in those relationships. A total of 1218 students majoring in early childhood education were recruited from three Chinese universities to attend this study. Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect data, and structural equation modeling was used to perform data analysis. Results showed that childhood maltreatment was negatively associated with life satisfaction in Chinese student preschool teachers; resilience and social support mediated those relationships. The findings suggest that childhood maltreatment not only has a direct relationship with life satisfaction, but also has an indirect relationship with life satisfaction via resilience and social support. Childhood maltreatment should be considered when enrolling student preschool teachers, and increasing levels of resilience and social support should be meaningful approaches when cultivating student preschool teachers who have experienced childhood maltreatment.

Feasibility of Using Child Maltreatment Measurement Instruments in the Primary Care Setting: A Systematic Review

PROBLEM

Child maltreatment is a devastating epidemic affecting millions of children and adolescents in the United States (U.S.) every year. Primary care providers (PCPs) encounter these victims but need resources to aid in the recognition of maltreatment. The purpose of this review is to evaluate child maltreatment measurement instruments and determine feasibility of use by U.S. PCPs.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycInfo databases from 2014 until 2020. Eligibility criteria included articles conducted in the U.S., with use of a child maltreatment measurement instrument, and subjects less than 18 years old. Eligible articles were reference searched to find the original studies for each instrument and were included if they were published in a peer-reviewed paper, could be located, and addressed the development or validation of the instrument.

SAMPLE

Of the 3816 articles, 111 used a child maltreatment measurement instrument. Sixteen of the 27 identified instruments were evaluated for feasibility using a quality rating with criteria including psychometrics, construct measurement, administration, availability, and cost.

RESULTS

Six instruments were recommended for use by PCPs.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first review evaluating the use of child maltreatment measurement instruments by PCPs and it highlights the combination of psychometric evaluation and other pertinent feasibility criteria to recommend several instruments for use by PCPs.

IMPLICATIONS

Use of these instruments by PCPs may serve to identify children and families who are at risk for or suffering from maltreatment.

Child Maltreatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Rapid Review

The present study is systematic rapid review on the nature of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and child maltreatment. Database searches on December 28, 2020, identified 234 unique citations; 12 were ultimately included in our analysis. Included articles measured child maltreatment inclusive of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, and child neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with the prepandemic period, 5 articles found an increase in child maltreatment, 6 articles found a decrease, and 1 study found no difference. There existed variation in geography of study location, age of child maltreatment victims, and types of child maltreatment assessed.

Risk and protective factors for child maltreatment: A review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The purpose of this review was to synthesize the empirical literature regarding key risk and protective factors for child maltreatment at each level of the socioecological model and to identify directions for future research and practice.

RECENT FINDINGS

Prior research has largely focused on risk and protective factors at the individual and interpersonal levels of the socioecological model. More recently, research has begun to examine risk and protective factors at the community and societal levels, with results suggesting that programmatic and policy interventions that reduce risk and enhance protection at these levels are promising primary prevention strategies for child maltreatment.

SUMMARY

Future research should continue to focus on risk and protective factors at the community and societal levels with the aim of building the evidence base for population-wide prevention strategies. Such strategies have the potential to create contexts in which families and children thrive.

Childhood Maltreatment and Impulsivity: A Meta-Analysis and Recommendations for Future Study

Both childhood maltreatment and impulsivity have been implicated in a broad array of negative public health outcomes and have been much studied in relation to each other. Characterizing this relationship, and the processes underlying it, are important for informing intervention efforts targeting this association and its psychopathological sequelae. The current review presented a systematic meta-analysis of the empirical literature on childhood maltreatment and impulsivity. In all, 55 eligible studies were identified and included in this review. General support was found for a positive association between childhood maltreatment, including its specific subtypes, and general trait impulsivity, with pooled effect sizes ranging from small in the case of childhood sexual abuse (OR = 1.59 [95% CI = 1.38-1.84]) to medium-to-large in the case of childhood emotional abuse (OR = 3.10 [95% CI = 2.27-4.23]). Support for a relationship between childhood maltreatment and laboratory-based measures of impulsive behavior was generally lacking. The current findings must be interpreted with a degree of caution, given several methodological limitations characterizing much of the empirical literature. Recommendations for addressing these limitations and directions for future research are provided.

Perceived Collective Efficacy and Parenting Competence: The Roles of Quality of Life and Hope

Parents' perceptions of their parenting competence predict successful implementation of parenting tasks and contribute to their interest and involvement in parenting and to their children's development. Thus, identifying factors that contribute to parents' perceptions of parenting competence can help inform efforts to promote children's safety and well-being. The present study employs social disorganization theory to examine the relationship between collective efficacy and parents' sense of competence, measured along two dimensions: parental efficacy and parental satisfaction. It examines the direct association between the two constructs and whether the association is mediated by parent perceptions of their quality of life (QOL) and sense of hope. Data were collected from 198 parents residing in a neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, Israel. The analyses indicated that high collective efficacy was directly associated with high parental efficacy, but not with high parental satisfaction. Using structural equation modeling, a mediation model was found whereby higher collective efficacy was associated with (a) higher QOL, which in turn was related to a greater sense of hope, which was linked with higher parental efficacy; and (b) higher QOL, which was directly associated with higher parental satisfaction. The findings provide further support to the idea that neighborhood characteristics play an important role in parents' ability to care for their children.

The Relationship between Parental Perception of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy and Physical Violence by Parents against Preschool Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in a County of China

Children exposed to negative neighborhood environments are at high risk of experiencing violence. This study aimed to explore the effects of parental perception of neighborhood collective efficacy on parental physical violence (PV) to their preschool children in a county of China. A total of 1337 parents from nine kindergartens were recruited by the stratified random cluster sampling method. Data about parental PV behavior toward children during the past three months, parental perception of neighborhood collective efficacy, together with their attitudes towards the use of corporal punishment to discipline children, and demographic characteristics were collected. Their relationships were investigated by applying multivariable logistic regression models. Overall, 67.5% of the parents reported at least one form of PV during the past three months. The rates of minor PV (MPV) and severe PV (SPV) were 67% and 22.8%, respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that only social cohesion was associated with lower odds of parental PV and MPV behavior after controlling for covariates. The results suggest that neighborhood collective efficacy is associated with parental PV behavior against their children to some extent, but the effects differ according to the severity level of PV. Neighborhood social cohesion may have a positive role in reducing parental PV behavior in the county surveyed at present study.

The mitigating effects of maternal social support and paternal involvement on the intergenerational transmission of violence

Childhood maltreatment is a strong risk factor for subsequent violence, including violent behaviors in young adulthood and offspring maltreatment after becoming a parent. Little is known about the specific circumstances under which supportive relationships may help disrupt this cycle of violence throughout the life course. We conducted two complementary analyses to assess whether maternal social support in early childhood, and also paternal involvement in middle childhood, could prevent the intergenerational transmission of violence, using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n=11,384). We found that higher levels of maternal social support in the postpartum period reduced the odds of offspring maltreatment at ages 0-8 years (OR=0.95, 95% CI 0.93-0.96). When classifying mothers according to their abuse history, this protective association of social support was observed among mothers with no history of childhood maltreatment and among those with only childhood maltreatment (and not postpartum intimate partner violence [IPV]), but not among mothers who reported IPV since the child's birth. We then extended our analysis of these offspring forward in time and found that paternal involvement at ages 9-10 years was associated with a reduced risk of offspring self-reported violent perpetration at ages 18-20 years (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.77-0.94). This protective association was generally apparent among all subgroups of children, including those with a history of childhood maltreatment. Together these results highlight the protective influence of supportive relationships against the intergenerational transmission of violence, depending on abuse history, context, and timing, with important implications for the prevention of childhood maltreatment and mitigation of its negative effects.

Child physical abuse - High school students' mental health and parental relations depending on who perpetrated the abuse

The aim of this study was to contribute to the research of child physical abuse (CPA) by examining if there were any differences in high school students' mental health (in this study symptoms of depression and anxiety, self-esteem and sense of coherence) and/or, in how they perceive their parents, depending on whether or not they had been subjected to CPA during childhood. In addition, if high school students reported different mental health and/or, relationships with their parents, depending on if their mother, father or both parents were the perpetrators of CPA. A representative national sample of high school students (N=3288, data collected 2009) participated in the study. Participants completed the following: questions about CPA and alleged perpetrators, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Sense of Coherence Scale and Parental Bonding Instrument. The results showed students who reported experiences of CPA were more likely to report symptoms of mental illness and negative perceptions of their parents' parenting. However, there were no mental health differences depending on whether their mother, father or both parents were the perpetrators of CPA. Still, there were differences in perceived parenting indicating that mothers' parenting was perceived as more negative when mothers only or both parents were perpetrators of the abuse than when only fathers were perpetrators.

Parent-Child Aggression Risk in Expectant Mothers and Fathers: A Multimethod Theoretical Approach

The current investigation evaluated whether cognitive processes characteristic of the Social Information Processing model predicted parent-child aggression (PCA) risk independent of personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies. This study utilized a multimethod approach, including analog tasks, with a diverse sample of 203 primiparous expectant mothers and 151 of their partners. Factors considered in this study included PCA approval attitudes, empathy, reactivity, negative child attributions, compliance expectations, and knowledge of non-physical discipline alternatives; additionally, vulnerabilities included psychopathology symptoms, domestic violence victimization, and substance use, whereas resiliencies included perceived social support, partner relationship satisfaction, and coping efficacy. For both mothers and fathers, findings supported the role of greater approval of PCA attitudes, lower empathy, more overreactivity, more negative attributions, and higher compliance expectations in relation to elevated risk of PCA. Moreover, personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies related to PCA risk for mothers; however, fathers and mothers differed on the nature of these relationships with respect to vulnerabilities as well as aspects of empathy and PCA approval attitudes. Findings provide evidence for commonalities in many of the factors investigated between mothers and fathers with some notable distinctions. Results are discussed in terms of how findings could inform prevention programs.