This article reports the results of a scoping review of the literature on life-course patterns of violence that span the developmental periods of childhood, adolescence, and early and middle ...adulthood. We also assess the evidence on elder mistreatment and its relation to earlier forms of violence. Additionally, we draw on theories and empirical studies to help explain the transmission of violence over time and relational contexts and the factors that appear to mitigate risks and promote resilience in individuals exposed to violence. Results suggest that encounters with violence beginning in childhood elevate the risk for violence in subsequent developmental periods. The strongest connections are between child maltreatment (physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect) and violence in adolescence and between violence in adolescence and violence in early and middle adulthood. Persistence of violence into older adulthood leading to elder mistreatment is less well-documented, but probable, based on available research. We conclude that more attention should be paid to studying developmental patterns and intersecting forms of violence that extend into old age. To eradicate violence in all its forms, considerably more must be done to increase awareness of the repetition of violence; to connect research to actionable steps for prevention and intervention across the life course; and to better integrate systems that serve vulnerable children, youth, and adults. Primary prevention is essential to breaking the cycle of violence within families and to alleviating the risks to children caused by poverty and other external factors such as social disconnection within communities.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is the largest royal commission in Australia’s history and one of the largest public inquiries into institutional child abuse ...internationally. With an investment from the Australian government of half a billion dollars, it examined how institutions with a responsibility for children, both historically and in the present, have responded to allegations of child sexual abuse. Announced in the wake of previous Australian and international inquiries, public scandals and lobbying by survivor groups, its establishment reflected increasing recognition of the often lifelong and intergenerational damage caused by childhood sexual abuse and a strong political commitment to improving child safety and wellbeing in Australia. This article outlines the background, key features and innovations of this landmark public inquiry, focusing in particular on its extensive research program. It considers its international significance and also serves as an introduction to this special edition on the Australian Royal Commission, exploring its implications for better understanding institutional child sexual abuse and its impacts, and for making institutions safer places for children in the future.
The aim of the systematic review described in this article was to synthesize available high-quality evidence on the outcomes of noninstitutional child maltreatment across the life span. A systematic ...review of previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses was conducted. Ten databases were searched. One hundred eleven papers which met stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected for review. Papers were included if they reported systematic reviews and meta-analyses of longitudinal or cross-sectional controlled studies, or single-group cohort primary studies of the outcomes of child maltreatment in the domains of physical and mental health and psychosocial adjustment of individuals who were children lived mainly with their families. Using AMSTAR criteria, selected systematic reviews and meta-analyses were found to be of moderate or high quality. Searches, study selection, data extraction, and study quality assessments were independently conducted by two researchers, with a high degree of interrater reliability. The 111 systematic reviews and meta-analyses reviewed in this article covered 2,534 independent primary studies involving 30,375,962 participants, of whom more than 518,022 had been maltreated. The magnitude and quality of this evidence base allow considerable confidence to be placed in obtained results. Significant associations were found between a history of child maltreatment and adjustment in the domains of physical health, mental health, and psychosocial adjustment in a very wide range of areas. The many adverse outcomes associated with child maltreatment documented in this review highlight the importance of implementing evidence-based child protection policies and practices to prevent maltreatment and treat child abuse survivors.
Although people with a history of child abuse are known to be at elevated risk for later difficulties in relationships, there is debate over whether these effects are enduring and relatively ...immutable or are moderated by characteristics and behaviors of the partner. To reconcile these competing perspectives, we conducted a longitudinal study of 414 newlywed couples living in low-income neighborhoods, testing whether the association between abuse history and relationship satisfaction is dependent on the partners' aggression, depression, substance abuse, observed communication, and other demographic risk factors. Spouses who had been abused as children (25% of husbands, 31% of wives) reported more symptoms of depression and substance abuse and, among husbands, displayed more negative communication. Spouses with a history of child abuse were also less satisfied with their marriage, even as newlyweds; abused wives also declined in satisfaction over time compared to those without this history. However, interactions between abuse history and all of the proposed moderators were not significant, indicating that partner and relationship characteristics failed to strengthen or weaken the association between abuse history and relationship satisfaction. Childhood experiences of abuse appear to have lasting and broad effects on individual and relational outcomes, and these effects are neither heightened nor mitigated by the partner's characteristics or behaviors.
Abstract This study examined the influence of victim sex, mock juror sex, and type of child abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, and neglect) on mock jurors’ assessments of eyewitness and defendant ...integrity, continuous guilt ratings, dichotomous verdicts, and sentencing recommendations. Participants read one of eight versions of a trial transcript and then answered a self-report questionnaire. Female mock jurors were significantly more likely to find the defendant guilty overall. Moreover, female mock jurors recommended significantly longer sentences for defendants in sexual abuse cases; whereas, male mock jurors recommended significantly longer sentences for defendants in sexual and physical abuse cases. Male mock jurors perceived the defendant more favorably than female mock jurors; whereas, female mock jurors perceived the alleged victim more favorable than male mock jurors. These results suggest that juror sex may be an influential factor in child abuse cases overall.
In the 1960s, as illegal drug use grew from a fringe issue to a pervasive public concern, a new industry arose to treat the addiction epidemic. Over the next five decades, the industry's leaders ...promised to rehabilitate the casualties of the drug culture even as incarceration rates for drug-related offenses climbed. In this history of addiction treatment, Claire D. Clark traces the political shift from the radical communitarianism of the 1960s to the conservatism of the Reagan era, uncovering the forgotten origins of today's recovery movement.Based on extensive interviews with drug-rehabilitation professionals and archival research,The Recovery Revolutionlocates the history of treatment activists' influence on the development of American drug policy. Synanon, a controversial drug-treatment program launched in California in 1958, emphasized a community-based approach to rehabilitation. Its associates helped develop the therapeutic community (TC) model, which encouraged peer confrontation as a path to recovery. As TC treatment pioneers made mutual aid profitable, the model attracted powerful supporters and spread rapidly throughout the country. The TC approach was supported as part of the Nixon administration's "law-and-order" policies, favored in the Reagan administration's antidrug campaigns, and remained relevant amid the turbulent drug policies of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. While many contemporary critics characterize American drug policy as simply the expression of moralizing conservatism or a mask for racial oppression, Clark recounts the complicated legacy of the "ex-addict" activists who turned drug treatment into both a product and a political symbol that promoted the impossible dream of a drug-free America.
Background: Child maltreatment has been associated with substance use later in life, but few studies have used repeated measures. Objective: To assess the association between child maltreatment and ...use of psychoactive substances from adolescence to early adulthood, and whether this differs by sex. Participants and setting: 3641 participants from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort, Brazil. Methods: Child maltreatment (psychological, physical and sexual abuse, and physical neglect) was assessed up to age 15 and use of psychoactive substances (smoking, harmful use of alcohol and use of illicit drugs) was assessed at ages 15, 18, and 22 years. Associations between child maltreatment and use of substances at each time point were analyzed using logistic regression, adjusted for confounders. Results: Overall, child maltreatment was associated with substance use, and the strength of the associations decreased over time. E.g., the association between psychological abuse and harmful use of alcohol was OR 2.17 (95%CI 1.80, 2.62; p-value < 0.001) at 15 years, OR 1.61 (95%CI 1.31, 1.97; p-value < 0.001) at 18 years, and OR1.55 (95%CI 1.22, 1.96; p-value < 0.001) at 22 years. When sex differences were evident, stronger associations were observed among females. E.g., the association between physical abuse and smoking at 15 years was OR 3.49 (95%CI 2.17, 5.62) in females and OR 0.87 (95%CI 0.30, 2.52) in males (p-value for sex interaction = 0.041). Conclusions: Child maltreatment was associated with psychoactive substance in adolescence and early adulthood. Strategies to prevent use of substances could benefit those who suffered maltreatment in childhood.
Child maltreatment through physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence, causes substantial adverse health, educational and behavioural consequences ...through the lifespan. The generation of reliable data on the prevalence and characteristics of child maltreatment in nationwide populations is essential to plan and evaluate public health interventions to reduce maltreatment. Measurement of child maltreatment must overcome numerous methodological challenges. Little is known to date about the extent, nature and methodological quality of these national studies. This study aimed to systematically review the most comprehensive national studies of the prevalence of child maltreatment, and critically appraise their methodologies to help inform the design of future studies.
Guided by PRISMA and following a published protocol, we searched 22 databases from inception to 31 May 2019 to identify nationwide studies of the prevalence of either all five or at least four forms of child maltreatment. We conducted a formal quality assessment and critical analysis of study design.
This review identified 30 national prevalence studies of all five or at least four forms of child maltreatment, in 22 countries. While sound approaches are available for different settings, methodologies varied widely in nature and robustness. Some instruments are more reliable and obtain more detailed and useful information about the characteristics of the maltreatment, including its nature, frequency, and the relationship between the child and the person who inflicted the maltreatment. Almost all studies had limitations, especially in the level of detail captured about maltreatment, and the adequacy of constructs of maltreatment types.
Countries must invest in rigorous national studies of the prevalence of child maltreatment. Studies should use a sound instrument containing appropriate maltreatment constructs, and obtain nuanced information about its nature.
Objectives
To further our understanding of the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and suicidal behaviour, this study investigates the association between three types of ACEs ...and lifetime suicide attempts, while considering potential gender‐specific and mediating effects.
Methods
Data were obtained from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey‐Mental Health (CCHS‐MH), a cross‐sectional, population‐based survey comprised of respondents aged 18 or older who provided self‐reported data on past experiences of suicide attempts, as well as childhood sexual abuse (CSA), childhood physical abuse (CPA) and parental domestic violence (PDV) (n = 22 559). After testing for ACE by gender interactions, we estimated the odds of lifetime suicide attempts for each ACE and then investigated whether depression, anxiety, substance abuse and chronic pain acted as mediators of the relationship.
Results
The odds of suicide attempts are significantly higher among those with a history of CPA (OR = 3.29; 99.9% CI 2.33–4.64), CSA (OR = 4.42; 99.9% CI 3.14–6.23) or PDV (OR = 2.52; 99.9% CI 1.69–3.76), when ACEs are mutually adjusted. There is little evidence that gender acts as a moderator; however, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and chronic pain appear to partially mediate the associations. Depression alone accounts for about a quarter of the associations with CSA and CPA.
Conclusions
Mental health factors and chronic pain appear only to partially mediate relationships between ACEs and lifetime suicide attempts. Future research should look at other pathways with the goal of developing multi‐level interventions.
Abstract Background Few studies have examined the associations between childhood sexual abuse (CSA), co-occurrence with other types of maltreatment and adult mental health outcomes, specifically ...among males. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the prevalence of males who have experienced a) childhood maltreatment without CSA; b) CSA without other forms of childhood maltreatment; and c) CSA along with other forms of childhood maltreatment; and 2) determine the relationship between CSA among males and mood, anxiety, substance and personality disorders and suicide attempts. Methods Data were drawn from the 2004–2005 National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and limited to males age 20 years old and older ( n = 14,564). Child maltreatment included harsh physical punishment, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect and exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). Results Emotional abuse, physical abuse, and exposure to IPV were the most common forms of maltreatment that co-occurred with CSA among males. A history of CSA only, and CSA co-occurring with other types of child maltreatment, resulted in higher odds for many mental disorders and suicide attempts compared to a history of child maltreatment without CSA. Conclusions Child maltreatment is associated with increased odds of mental disorders among males. Larger effects were noted for many mental disorders and suicide attempts for males who experienced CSA with or without other child maltreatment types compared to those who did not experience CSA. These results are important for understanding the significant long-term effects of CSA among males.
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