Multiple forms of child abuse and neglect: adult retrospective reports

There are few research reports of the experience of multiple forms of child abuse and neglect (multi-type maltreatment). A critical review is presented of 29 studies in which adult retrospective reports of more than one form of child maltreatment (sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, neglect, or witnessing family violence) are assessed. Empirical investigations of the extent and impact of multi-type maltreatment are identified. Data on the relationship between the different forms of maltreatment and the adjustment problems associated with each type of maltreatment are critiqued. As well as using dichotomous measures of maltreatment, an important methodological problem was the failure of researchers to assess all child maltreatment types, the relationship between multi-type maltreatment and adjustment, and the role of variables influencing the occurrence or impact of maltreatment. Considerable overlap was found in the occurrence of maltreatment types. The compounding or interacting effects of experiencing multi-type maltreatment were ignored in many studies. Where an assessment was made of the specific impact of multi-type maltreatment, it was associated with greater impairment than single forms of abuse or neglect. A multi-dimensional approach to prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect is required in which children's vulnerability to multi-type maltreatment is addressed.     

Care vs Food as an Emotional Regulation Strategy in Elementary School Children: The Role of the Attachment Style

Abstract

According to attachment theory, potentially threatening stimuli tend to activate the attachment system for the search of the protective figure. In secure attachments, the experience of responsive relationships increases the probability of resorting to available figures as a strategy for regulating emotions in stressful situations. The aim of the research was to verify whether, in conditions of mild threat, children’s attachment styles affect the choice between caring relationships and food as a form of emotion regulation. We used a mixed experimental design to perform this research. Here, we presented children (N?=?65; M_age= 9.4) with threatening and neutral images and, afterwards, asked them to select from images of caring relationship or images of food. The results indicate that securely and ambivalently attached but not avoidantly attached children under both the neutral and threatening image conditions chose the care pictures over the food pictures. Second, only the securely attached increased their choice of care over food images in the threatening condition, and third, this difference was significant when compared with the avoidant children. In conclusion, the results show that although in general the choice of care is primary with respect to food, children with insecure attachments differ from secure children between the two options of emotional regulation.     

The Not-Forgotten Child: Alienated Adult Children’s Experience of Parental Alienation

Abstract

This study explored the experience of adults who had experienced parental alienation during childhood. Ten alienated adult children participated in 60 to 90-minute semi-structured interviews about their experience of parental alienation. Using Braun and Clarke (2006 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) thematic analysis framework, seven themes were identified. Participants described experiencing abuse perpetrated by the alienating parent. They described experiencing anxiety, depression, low self-worth, guilt, attachment problems, difficulty in other relationships, and reduced or delayed educational and career attainment that they attributed to their experience of parental alienation. These results demonstrated that children’s exposure to parental alienation may have lifelong ramifications for their psychological well-being.     

Trauma-Informed Child Welfare: From Training to Practice and Policy Change

ABSTRACT

Multiple child welfare systems and agencies have embraced efforts to become more trauma-informed in recent years. However, the field of trauma-informed care is still somewhat in its infancy and only recently has the focus shifted from theoretical concepts into concrete practices that can be identified, measured, evaluated, and sustained over time. One of the key resources designed to help support the development of a trauma-informed child welfare system is the Child Welfare Trauma Training Toolkit (CWTTT). The CWTTT was developed in 2008 as a collaborative process that included members of the Child Welfare Committee of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Originally, the CWTTT was developed as a training resource to support child welfare professionals in increasing their understanding regarding trauma and its impact on children. Over time, the CWTTT has undergone multiple iterations and has been involved in numerous state and county initiatives to support their efforts in becoming more trauma-informed. This article will provide historical context on the development of the CWTTT, detailing its evolution since 2007, followed by highlighting the current efforts and future directions of the CWTTT.     

Contributions of parents and peers to children's moral socialization

This article is concerned with the process of moral development, or specifically, how children acquire a sense of right and wrong from their interactions with two major agents of socialization—parents and peers. The first section of the paper critically examines the literature on parental influences and draws several conclusions about the ways in which parents affect children's moral character. The focus then shifts to a review of the literature on peer group contributions to moral socialization. The paper concludes by examining the literature on cross-pressures, and offering a perspective on the ways in which parental and peer group influences combine to affect children's moral development.     

Early and middle childhood developmental,cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes of Malawian children affected by retinopathy positive cerebral malaria

The objective is to determine the short -and long-term developmental, cognitive, and psychiatric effects of retinopathy positive cerebral malaria (CM-R) among young children in a prospective study assessing them around the onset of disease and again 2 years at preschool and again at school age.

In total, 109 children were recruited from the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, (N = 49) with CM-R and non-malaria controls (N = 60). Children were assessed for overall motor, language, and social skills using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) at preschool age. At school age, the same children were then given the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, second edition (KABC-II), which assessed global cognitive performancememory, and learning; as well as the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), which assessed attention. The Achenbach Child Development Checklist (CBCL) was administered at both time points to assess emotional and behavioral patterns.

Controls scored significantly better on all KABC-II global domains as well as on the mental processing index than their CM-R group counterparts, but showed no performance differences in the TOVA and CBCL assessments at school age, or in the MDAT and CBCL assessments at preschool age. The MDAT total score was significantly correlated with the KABC-II sequential processing, learning, and mental processing index among CM-R survivors but not among controls.

Persisting neurocognitive effects of CM can be captured with the KABC-II at school age. The MDAT at preschool age is correlated with the KABC-II among CM-R survivors and can be used to capture early emerging developmental deficits due to CM-R.     

Self-reported mental health problems and performance in mathematics and reading in children across Europe

ABSTRACT

The study examines the associations of specific self-reported internalizing and externalizing problems and performance in mathematics and reading in school-aged children across Europe. Data were drawn from 5,842 children between 6 and 13 years of age participating in the School Children Mental Health in Europe study and a large cross-sectional survey in France. Self-reported child mental health was assessed using the Dominic Interactive, academic performance was reported by teachers. Across Europe, controlling for key sociodemographic factors associated with achievement including maternal education, performance in mathematics was more often associated with the presence of externalizing and internalizing problems as compared to performance in reading. In addition, the findings point to significant sex differences in the associations of internalizing problems and academic achievement. Considering the impact of early academic difficulties in terms of later internalizing and externalizing problems and academic attainment, school-based interventions interrupting the cycle as early as possible are warranted.     

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Global Childhoods: Transdisciplinary Reflections from Nepal

Abstract

Globally, humans face innumerable socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental problems while being threatened by ever more interconnected and complex geopolitical concerns. In this planetary context, unidisciplinary research and related teaching approaches often work to constrain our ability to move beyond institutional and bureaucratic mind-sets to become agents of social change within local systems impacting children. During its 40-year evolution from a sub-discipline of psychology, the international field of child and youth studies has sought common ground for interpreting these pedagogical and professional issues. Many authors now argue for transdisciplinary approaches to address and overcome these tensions in the effort to re-integrate epistemologies of the global South within more dominant global North knowledge production systems. Such approaches have been posited to add new analytical and methodological tools to achieve praxis—the Greek word for translating theory into practice. Transdisciplinary research transcends the usual gap between academia and the broader public by acknowledging the value of knowledge obtained from diverse, nonacademic stakeholders in the community, government, and business. In addition, these approaches in child and youth studies offer us new possibilities for translating and understanding the local and global implications of implementing the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child, and the vast differences in the experiences of childhood amongst and between various socioeconomic, cultural, and political contexts in recognizing their own rights in situ. Moving beyond adult-focused and Eurocentric understanding of the childhood literature (and of children’s human rights), this paper reflects our experiences working with young people affiliated with the Lalitpur Metropolitan City Child Clubs in Nepal, and observing their participatory planning processes for annual budgets. In response to increasing complexity throughout all regions of the world, we consider historical, political, and cultural experiences in Nepal through this transdisciplinary approach to child-centered research and activism. Our paper details key learning and transitions from being “academic researchers” and “observers” of a participatory, child- and youth-focused budgeting process to “collaborators” and “co-constructors of knowledge” with key stakeholders—the young people of Lalitpur, Nepal.