Etiology of child maltreatment: A developmental€cological analysis.

Applies a developmental–ecological perspective to the question of the etiology of physical child abuse and neglect by organizing the paper around a variety of "contexts of maltreatment." The roles of parent and child characteristics and processes are considered ("developmental context"), including an examination of intergenerational transmission. The "immediate interactional context" of maltreatment, which focuses on the parenting and parent–child interactional processes associated with abuse and neglect, is analyzed. Finally, the "broader context" is discussed with 3 specific subsections dealing with the community, cultural, and evoluntionary contexts of child maltreatment. Implications for intervention are considered and future research directions are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A framework for understanding child maltreatment: An integration of cognitive behavioural and developmental perspectives.

Suggests that emphasis be placed on basic assessment research utilizing a cognitive behavioral developmental framework in the treatment of child-abusive families. A framework involving 3 core deficit areas is described: (1) parent–child interaction disturbances, (2) parental disturbances in impulse control, and (3) parental cognitive dysfunctions. These areas could potentially explain both the occurrence of parental aggression and the negative sequelae observed among maltreated children. Using such a framework to guide research would foster the development of a more comprehensive theory of child maltreatment and improved treatment and prevention. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Etiological factors in child maltreatment: A multivariate study of abusing, neglecting, and normal mothers.

Attempted to verify the prevailing multifactor theory of child abuse and neglect, which explains maltreatment as a function of (a) personality characteristics of parents, (b) children "at risk" due to preexisting deviancy, and (c) environmental stress. 80 low socioeconomic-status mothers from each of 3 samples—known-abuse, neglect, and normal treatment controls—were measured on 12 variables, including the Michigan Screening Profile of Parenting, the Schedule of Recent Experience, the Downstate Childrearing Questionnaire, and the Family Life Form. A multiple discriminant analysis distinguished the neglecting mothers from the other 2 groups at a significant level, primarily as a result of stress-related variables. Approximately 12% of the discriminant space was explained on the basis of stress and personality factors from the Michigan Screening Profile of Parenting; 49% of all Ss were correctly reclassified. It is concluded that the proposed model of causal antecedents to child maltreatment has limited explanatory power when applied retrospectively. Improved instruments, sampling techniques, and prospective longitudinal approaches are suggested for subsequent investigations. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging, source memory, and emotion.

In 2 experiments we assessed younger and older adults' ability to remember contextual information about an event. Each experiment examined memory for 3 different types of contextual information: (a) perceptual information (e.g., location of an item); (b) conceptual, nonemotional information (e.g., quality of an item); and (c) conceptual, emotional information (e.g., safety of an item). Consistent with a large literature on aging and source memory, younger adults outperformed older adults when the contextual information was perceptual in nature and when it was conceptual, but not emotional. Age differences in source memory were eliminated, however, when participants recalled emotional source information. These findings suggest that emotional information differentially engages older adults, possibly evoking enhanced elaborations and associations. The data are also consistent with a growing literature, suggesting that emotional processing remains stable with age (e.g., Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994, 1998; Isaacowitz, Charles, & Carstensen, 2000). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress films, emotion, and cognitive response

The clinical theory of the repetition compulsion is sometimes taken to mean that neurotic persons, when traumatized, will develop compulsive repetitions of the trauma. Our experiment suggests that there is a more general effect--that various types of persons, after a variety of stressful events, will tend to develop intrusive and stimulus-repetitive thought; the stress itself does not necessarily have to have a negative valence. Equivalent effects were noted after stimuli that aroused positive emotions and after those stimuli that aroused dysphoric affects.     

The association between child maltreatment and disabilities in a hospital-based epidemiological study

OBJECTIVE: Circumstances of maltreatment and the presence of disabilities. METHOD: An electronic merger of the records of all pediatric patients. RESULTS: Detailed record analysis of circumstances of maltreatment and the presence of disabilities. CONCLUSIONS: Differences between the Hospital and Residential samples, maltreatment and perpetrator characteristics, disability/maltreatment relationships, and their implications for primary health care are discussed.     

Circumstances surrounding the occurrence of child maltreatment.

Examined circumstances surrounding the occurrence of child maltreatment for 825 physical abuse incidents, 188 emotional cruelty incidents, 799 occurrences of neglect, 766 severe but nonabusive physical discipline incidents, and 366 incidents of mild and nonabusive discipline. These incidents occurred in 328 families, which included all the families cited for child abuse over a 10-yr period in a 2-county area of eastern Pennsylvania. The age of all children for whom accidents were recorded ranged from birth through 17 yrs. Results show that physical abuse tended to be associated with child behaviors; emotional cruelty was associated with adult conflict that enlarged to involve the child; and neglect was characterized by failure of parents to assume parental responsibilities. Interpretation of the findings focused on the role of the parent–child interaction in physical abuse, the role of adult interactions in emotional cruelty, and the inadequacy of parental motivation and child-rearing skills in neglect. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents'' developmental expectations and child characteristics: longitudinal study of children with developmental delays and their families

Infection of isolated organs of the reproductive system by Trypanosoma cruzi has been described since Chagas' disease was first studied. A detailed histopathological analysis of mice acutely infected with T. cruzi CL strain showed colonization of male (preputial glands and skin, penis, testicular albuginea, epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles, prostate, coagulative, bulbo urethral and urethral glands) and female (vagina, uterus, oviduct, ovary, mesovary, clitoris and mammary glands) structures of the reproductive system. The results presented herein demonstrated invasion of epithelial cells, pronounced colonization of the epididymis and male genital adnexa, but absence of parasitism in penile corpora cavernosa.     

Domestic violence, emotion coaching, and child adjustment.

This article addresses the question of whether parents in domestically violent homes have difficulty talking to and helping their children manage their emotions-what has been referred to as emotion coaching. Emotion coaching as a moderator in the relationship between domestic violence (DV) and children's behavior problems was also examined. Results indicated that DV was not associated with a general deficit in emotion coaching but that DV was associated with less coaching of anger and fear depending on whether the parent was the perpetrator or victim of DV. Emotion coaching also moderated the relationship between DV and children's behavior problems. Implications for the development of an intervention program to improve parental coaching of emotion in domestically violent homes is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, emotion, and human immune function.

This article provides a review of empirical evidence linking emotional processes to immune function in humans. Acute stressors have produced mixed effects on immunity, presumably through differential activation of physiological stress systems. Chronic stress has been associated with suppression of immune function, and there is evidence that the immune system may not adapt over time. Effects of stress accompanying social disruption and psychological depression, when demonstrated, have been consistently adverse. Certain personality styles may enhance or degrade immune response. Relationships between psychosocial factors and immunity have been identified for several diseases, including cancer, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and autoimmune diseases; psychosocial interventions have been tested with variable results. Theoretical and methodological considerations are summarized and directions for future research suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interaction of parent and child gender in physical child maltreatment.

Assessed cross-generational patterns of physical child maltreatment taking the gender of both parents and child into consideration, and the experience of shame regarding one's own physically abusive behaviors. 1536 parents (mean age 47 yrs) and their 983 children (mean age 18 yrs) were administered the Conflict Tactics Scale (M. A. Straus, 1989) along with other questionnaires to gather information on aggressive behavior, shame experienced in abusing their children and demographic data. The parents were categorized as physically abusive or nonabusive if both parent and child ratings of the parents' behavior were in agreement. Results show that parents received more physical child maltreatment from their own same gender parent than from opposite gender parents. Among the abusive parents, the more maltreatment they received as children by the same gender parent, the less shame they felt for using such punishment on their own children. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alexithymia, memory of emotion, emotional awareness, and perfectionism.

The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; R. M. Bagby, J. D. A. Parker, & G. J. Taylor, 1994) is a self-assessment instrument designed to measure deficits in metaemotional functioning (e.g., difficulties in identifying and describing emotions). Four studies were carried out to examine the association between the TAS-20 and (a) performance measures of meta-emotional functioning (memory of emotion and emotional awareness; Studies 1-2) and (b) measures of perfectionistic standards that may possibly be involved in the self-assessment of abilities--difficulties (Studies 3-4). The TAS-20 failed to correlate in the predicted direction with the performance measures but showed sizable correlations with measures of perfectionism. Moreover, perfectionism was found to predict TAS-20 scores independent of depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints. The results are discussed in terms of the TAS-20 measuring primarily certain aspects of meta-emotional self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, change, and families: Theoretical and methodological considerations.

In response to issues raised in S. E. Hobfoll and C. D. Spielberger (see record 1993-13294-001), additional theoretical and methodological concerns are discussed. Specifically, differentiating types of changes and the impact of change on individuals within the family are discussed. The relationship between change and loss is presented with respect to the loss involved in all changes, positive and negative. The long-term implications of change and methodological concerns in assessing the impact of change on family systems are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress, social support, and substantiated maltreatment in the second and third years of life

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to determine whether risk factors for a maltreatment report in the first year of life, especially the interaction of life event stress and social support, persist into the second and third years of life. METHOD: Predominantly low income mothers who had been interviewed shortly after the birth of infants in a longitudinal cohort were re-interviewed around the infants' first birthdays, and reports to North Carolina's Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect were tracked for substantiated maltreatment reports. RESULTS: Variables significantly associated with a substantiated maltreatment report in the second or third year of life (p < .01) were first year maltreatment reports and participation in Medicaid. Three interactions between a stressful life event indicator variable and a social support indicator variable were significant predictors of substantiated second or third year reports (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Even in the presence of significant risk factors from the first year of life, life event stress can increase the risk of a substantiated maltreatment report in the second or third years of life, but social support may moderate the effect of life events.     

Searching for metamemory–memory connections: A developmental study.

To determine the nature and strength of metamemory–memory connections, 178 children from kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades participated in 2 sessions. Metamemory was assessed during Session 1 by an extensive introspective interview. Memory strategies and performance were independently measured during Session 2 on 3 tasks: free sort, cognitive cuing, and alphabet search. Metamemory–memory correlations were significant when data were combined across grades. Most within-grade correlations were not significant and did not generalize across memory tasks. Amount of knowledge about strategies failed to distinguish between individuals who used vs did not use relevant knowledge; that is, irrelevant aspects of memory correlated as highly and frequently with memory in comparison with task-specific or general knowledge about strategies. Finally, contingency analyses failed to support the contention that metamemory is a necessary prerequisite for successful memory. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Errors in short-term memory for speech: A developmental study.

In a previous study (R. Treiman & C. Danis, 1988), adults who were presented with lists of spoken consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) nonsense syllables for immediate recall produced many errors that combined the initial consonant onset of one to-be-remembered syllable with the vowel-consonant rime of another to-be-remembered syllable. These onset-rime recombination errors were more common than other types of recombination errors and also more common than serial position errors. These findings suggest that nonwords are remembered in terms of smaller phonological units. To replicate the previous results and to determine whether they generalize to children, the author tested kindergartners, 3rd graders, 6th graders, and adults on lists of nonsense CVCs. Onset-rime conjunction errors were the most frequent type of recombination error, even among kindergartners, suggesting that children code spoken syllables in terms of onset and rime units from a young age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)