Abstract The prevalence of child maltreatment in Suriname has never been subjected to a reliable assessment. The only data available include rough estimates of a range of internationally comparable ...indicators extrapolated from child protection and police corps statistics for offenses against children. This study aimed to provide a reliable estimate of the prevalence of all forms of child maltreatment in Suriname. One thousand three hundred and ninety-one (1,391) adolescents and young adults of different ethnicities completed a questionnaire about child maltreatment. The study sample, obtained by random probability sampling, consisted of students (ages 12 through 22) from five districts in Suriname. A significant proportion of Surinamese children experienced maltreatment. In total, 86.8% of adolescents and 95.8% of young adults reported having been exposed to at least one form of child maltreatment during their lives. Among the adolescents, 57.1% were exposed to child maltreatment in the past year. When the definition of the National Incidence Study was applied, 58.2% of adolescents and 68.8% of young adults had been exposed to at least one form of maltreatment. Among adolescents, 36.8% reported having experienced at least one form of maltreatment in the past year. The results indicate the (extremely) high lifetime and year prevalence of child maltreatment in Suriname. The serious and often lifelong consequences of such maltreatment indicate that a national approach to child abuse and neglect, including the development of a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system and changes to the state's programmatic and policy response, is urgently needed.
Given the high prevalence of child neglect among maltreatment subtypes, and its association with exposure to additional environmental adversity, understanding the processes that potentiate child ...neglect and link neglect to subsequent child externalizing psychopathology may shed light on key targets for preventive intervention. Among 170 urban low-income children (ages 4–9) and their mothers, this 5-year prospective study examined the effects of early neglect severity and maternal substance abuse, as well as neighborhood crime, on children’s later externalizing behavior problems. Severity of child neglect (up to age 6 years) mediated the relation between maternal drug dependence diagnosis (MDDD), determined at children’s age of 4 years, and children’s externalizing behavior problems at age 9. Rates of neighborhood crime mediated the link between presence of child neglect and children’s externalizing behavior problems. The roles of MDDD, child neglect, and community violence in the development of child psychopathology are discussed in terms of their implications for intervention.
•Job loss increases risk for psychological and physical abuse during the pandemic.•Positive cognitive reframing mitigates risk of job loss on physical abuse.•Interventions targeting reframing may ...decrease risk for abuse during COVID-19.
Job loss resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic presents significant risk for child abuse. Protective factors, such as reframing coping, may mitigate the risk of job loss on child maltreatment.
The current study investigated factors associated with child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, including parental job loss, and whether cognitive reframing moderated associations between job loss and child maltreatment.
A community sample of 342 parents (62% mothers) of 4- to 10-year-olds (M = 7.38, SD = 2.01; 57.3% male) living in the United States completed online questionnaires regarding experiences with COVID-19, the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale, and the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales.
Two logistic regression analyses evaluated predictors of whether parents psychologically maltreated or physically abused their children during the pandemic controlling for maltreating history, parental depressive symptoms, financial stability, parent age, parent gender, child age, and child gender. Parents who lost their jobs (OR = 4.86, 95% CI 1.19, 19.91, p = .03), were more depressed (OR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.02, 1.08, p < .01), and previously psychologically maltreated their children (OR = 111.94, 95% CI 28.54, 439.01, p < .001) were more likely to psychologically maltreat during the pandemic. Regarding physical abuse, a significant interaction between job loss and reframing coping emerged (OR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.59, 0.99, p = .04). Among parents who lost their jobs, the probability of physical abuse decreased as reframing coping increased.
Job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic is a significant risk factor for child maltreatment. Reframing coping may be an important buffer of this association on physical abuse and presents implications for maltreatment prevention.
It has long been claimed that “maltreatment begets maltreatment,” that is, a parent's history of maltreatment increases the risk that his or her child will also suffer maltreatment. However, ...significant methodological concerns have been raised regarding evidence supporting this assertion, with some arguing that the association weakens in samples with higher methodological rigor. In the current study, the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment hypothesis is examined in 142 studies (149 samples; 227,918 dyads) that underwent a methodological quality review, as well as data extraction on a number of potential moderator variables. Results reveal a modest association of intergenerational maltreatment (k = 80; d = 0.45, 95% confidence interval; CI 0.37, 0.54). Support for the intergenerational transmission of specific maltreatment types was also observed (neglect: k = 13, d = 0.24, 95% CI 0.11, 0.37; physical abuse: k = 61, d = 0.41, 95% CI 0.33, 0.49; emotional abuse: k = 18, d = 0.57, 95% CI 0.43, 0.71; sexual abuse: k = 18, d = 0.39, 95% CI 0.24, 0.55). Methodological quality only emerged as a significant moderator of the intergenerational transmission of physical abuse, with a weakening of effect sizes as methodological rigor increased. Evidence from this meta-analysis confirms the cycle of maltreatment hypothesis, although effect sizes were modest. Future research should focus on deepening understanding of mechanisms of transmission, as well as identifying protective factors that can effectively break the cycle of maltreatment.
A social information processing (SIP) theory of parenting risk posits that social-cognitive and neurocognitive incapacities characterize at-risk parents, and that these cognitive difficulties operate ...across relational domains. This study focused on highly disadvantaged mothers of preschoolers and compared mothers with histories of perpetrating child neglect (n = 69) to demographically similar mothers without such histories (n = 76). Participants completed measures of unrealistic expectations for children and other adults, social problem-solving in parenting and nonparenting situations, executive functioning (EF), and attributions for children and other adults. As predicted, associations among these measures were found within and across relational domains. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two distinct clusters that distinguished the two groups. The first included measures of expectations and attributions (for both children and other adults) and the second included problem-solving difficulties and EF. When group differences were examined on individual variables, mothers with histories of perpetrating neglect exhibited more unrealistic expectations of children and other adults, more hostile attributions toward children and other adults, and poorer performance on tests of EF than comparisons. Only interpersonal problem-solving (in both parenting and nonparenting situations) failed to differentiate the neglect group from comparisons. In regression analyses, both parenting and nonparenting social cognition and EF contributed significantly to child neglect. These findings provide some support for this cognitive model of parenting risk and suggest widespread disturbances in parenting and nonparenting social cognition and neurocognition, may play a role in child neglect.
Abstract In the present study, we examined the role of cumulative childhood maltreatment experiences for several health related outcomes in adulthood, including symptoms of psychological distress as ...well as perceived social support and hardiness. The sample comprised adult survivors of sexual abuse (N = 278, 95.3% women, mean age at first abusive incident = 6.4 years). One-way ANOVAs revealed a statistically significant dose-response relation between cumulative childhood maltreatment scores and self-reported symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSS), anxiety, depression, eating disorders, dissociation, insomnia, nightmare related distress, physical pain, emotional pain, relational problems, self-harm behaviors as well as on a measure of symptom complexity. Cumulative childhood maltreatment was also associated with lower levels of work functioning. An inverse dose-response relation was found for perceived social support and hardiness. Using a Bonferroni corrected alpha level, cumulative childhood maltreatment remained significantly associated with all outcome measures with the exception of eating disorder symptoms after controlling for abuse-related independent variables in hierarchical regression analyses. Results add to previous literature by showing that dose-response relation between cumulative childhood adversities and adult symptom outcomes could also be identified in a sample characterized by high exposure to adversities, and lends support to the notion put forth by previous authors that cumulative childhood adversities seem to be related to the severity of adult health outcomes in a rule-governed way.
Active maintenance of goal representations is an integral part of our mental regulatory processes. Previous developmental studies have highlighted goal neglect, which is the phenomenon caused by a ...failure to maintain goal representations, and demonstrated developmental changes of the ability to maintain goal representations among preschoolers. Yet, few studies have explored the cognitive mechanisms underlying preschoolers' development of goal maintenance. The first aim of this study was to test whether working memory capacity and inhibitory control contribute to goal maintenance using a paradigm for measuring goal neglect. Moreover, although recent studies have shown that preschoolers recruit lateral prefrontal regions in performing executive functions tasks, they could not specify the neural underpinnings of goal maintenance. Thus, the second aim was to examine whether lateral prefrontal regions played a key role in maintaining goal representations using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Our results showed that developmental differences in inhibitory control predicted the degree of goal neglect. It was also demonstrated that activation in the right prefrontal region was associated with children's successful avoidance of goal neglect. These findings offer important insights into the cognitive and neural underpinnings of goal maintenance in preschoolers.
•We examined how working memory capacity and inhibitory control uniquely accounted for goal maintenance•We tested whether lateral prefrontal regions played a key role in maintaining goal representations using fNIRS•Inhibitory control is uniquely associated with goal maintenance in preschoolers•Preschoolers recruit right lateral prefrontal areas while maintaining goal representations as well as resolving conflicts
Patients with right hemisphere damage often show a lateral bias when asked to report the left side of mental images held in visual working memory (i.e. representational neglect). The neural basis of ...representational neglect is not well understood. One hypothesis suggests that it reflects a deficit in attentional-exploratory mechanisms, i.e. an inability to direct attention to the left side of the image. Another proposition states that intact visual working memory (VWM) is necessary for correctly creating a mental image. Here we examined two components of VWM in patients with unilateral spatial neglect (USN): memory for identity, and memory for spatial position. We manipulated the strength of memory representations by presenting two distinct categories of objects, in separate blocks. These were familiar namable objects (fruits, etc.), and unfamiliar abstract objects. The former category elicits stronger working-memory traces, thanks to preexisting visual and semantic representations in long-term memory. We hypothesized that if USN patients show a lateralized deficit in VWM, it should be more pronounced for abstract objects, due to their weaker working-memory traces. Importantly, to isolate a spatially lateralized deficit in memory from a failure to fully perceive the object-arrays, we ensured that all included patients perceived every item during the encoding phase. We used a working-memory task: participants viewed object arrays and had to memorize items' identities and spatial positions. Then, single objects were presented requiring ‘old/new’ recognition, and retrieval of ‘old’ items’ original positions. Our results show a lateral bias in patients’ recognition-memory performance. Remarkably, it was threefold milder for namable objects compared to abstract objects. We conclude that VWM lateralized deficit is substantial in USN patients and could play a role in representational neglect.
•Visual working memory deficit in hemispatial neglect patients is poorly understood.•Semantic content affects the strength of the memory trace of images.•Images with and without semantic content were therefore used.•Working memory for identity, and memory for spatial position were tested.•A lateralized memory deficit is more pronounced for images without semantic content.
Abstract The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence of, and determine the effect of adverse childhood experiences on non-suicidal self-injury among children and adolescents referred ...to community and inpatient mental health settings. Data for this study were obtained from the interRAI Child and Youth Mental Health dataset. A total of 2038 children and adolescents aged 8–18 years ( M = 12.49; SD = 2.88, 61.1% males) were analyzed. Binary logistic regression was fitted to identify predictors of non-suicidal self-injury as a function of adverse childhood experiences, depression, and social support while simultaneously controlling for age, gender, type of patient, legal guardianship, marital status of parents/caregivers, history of foster family placement, and mental health diagnoses. Of the 2038 children and adolescents examined, 592 (29%) of this clinical sample engaged in non-suicidal self-injury. In the multivariate logistic regression model, children and adolescents who were physically abused had 49% higher odds of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury and children and adolescents who were sexually abused had 60% higher odds of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury, when compared to their non-abused counterparts. Other predictors of non-suicidal self-injury include: older age, female gender, inpatient status, depression, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, disruptive behavior disorder, and mood disorders. Children and adolescents who had some form of social support had a 26% decrease in the odds of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury. Assessment procedures for indicators of mental health, particularly among children and adolescents with a history of adverse childhood experiences, should also take into account non-suicidal self-injury. In addition to bolstering social support networks, addressing depression and related emotion regulation skills in childhood may help prevent future non-suicidal self-injury behaviors.
This study aims to investigate the mediating role of self-neglect among older adults in the relationship between family functioning and healthy aging.OBJECTIVEThis study aims to investigate the ...mediating role of self-neglect among older adults in the relationship between family functioning and healthy aging.A questionnaire survey was conducted between June and September 2023, involving 255 older adults living alone in rural China. The healthy ageing, self-neglect, and family functioning was assessed using the Healthy Aging Instrument;the Elderly Self-neglect Assessment (Rural);and Family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve (APGAR) scale.METHODSA questionnaire survey was conducted between June and September 2023, involving 255 older adults living alone in rural China. The healthy ageing, self-neglect, and family functioning was assessed using the Healthy Aging Instrument;the Elderly Self-neglect Assessment (Rural);and Family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, and Resolve (APGAR) scale.Positive correlations were found between family functioning and healthy aging (r = 0.363, p < 0.05). Moreover, self-neglect was identified as a significant mediator, explaining 40.84 % of the total effect.RESULTSPositive correlations were found between family functioning and healthy aging (r = 0.363, p < 0.05). Moreover, self-neglect was identified as a significant mediator, explaining 40.84 % of the total effect.Among older adults living alone in rural China, family functioning is significantly associated with healthy aging, with self-neglect mediating this relationship. These findings suggest that community-based interventions aimed at improving family functioning and addressing self-neglect behaviors might be beneficial for promoting healthy aging in this population.CONCLUSIONAmong older adults living alone in rural China, family functioning is significantly associated with healthy aging, with self-neglect mediating this relationship. These findings suggest that community-based interventions aimed at improving family functioning and addressing self-neglect behaviors might be beneficial for promoting healthy aging in this population.
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