Showing posts with label child abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child abuse. Show all posts

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Sexual Violence Against Female and Male Children in the United Republic of Tanzania

During a household survey in Tanzania, a nationally representative sample of females and males aged 13-24 years reported any experiences of sexual violence that occurred before the age of 18 years. The authors explore the prevalence, circumstances, and health outcomes associated with childhood sexual violence. 

The results suggest that violence against children in Tanzania is pervasive, with roughly three in 10 females and one in eight males experiencing some form of childhood sexual violence, and its health consequences are severe. 

Results are being used by the Tanzanian government to implement a National Plan of Action.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/dj3dPu

  • 1U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA kvagi@cdc.gov.
  • 2U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
  • 3UNICEF Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre/West and Central Africa Regional Office, Dakar-Yoff, Sénégal.
  • 4United Nations Children's Fund, Laos.
  • 5Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. 
  •  2016 Mar 14. pii: 1077801216634466



Saturday, March 19, 2016

Children's Knowledge of Sexual Abuse Prevention in El Salvador

BACKGROUND:
Child sexual abuse (CSA) remains a global health problem that must be addressed. In a country with limited resources such as El Salvador, we sought an alternative way to disseminate CSA prevention information to elementary school children.

OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention exhibit at a children's museum.

METHODS:
We asked 189 children to answer a questionnaire about CSA prevention before entering a museum exhibit on the subject and then asked 59 different children to answer the questionnaire after visiting the exhibit.

FINDINGS:
Children's knowledge scores on CSA prevention significantly improved after visiting the exhibit (P < .012).

CONCLUSIONS:
A museum exhibit that addresses CSA prevention is an effective way of communicating CSA prevention to children.



Children's Answers to Knowledge Questionnaire Pre– and Post–Museum Visit (all ages) and P Values for Correct Answers
QuestionPre-visitPost-visit (P-value)
Q1. “My body belongs to me”
 Yes (%)89.998.3 (.038)
 No (%)10.11.7
Q2. “What should you do if someone tries to touch you or looks at you in a manner that scares or makes you feel bad?”
 I would scream NO and get away (%)73.488.1 (.018)
 I would tell someone until later (%)11.611.9
 I would say nothing (%)152.4
Q3. “Why is it important to tell if someone tries to touch you or looks at you in a manner that scares or makes you feel bad?”
 Because I have not done anything wrong and I have the right to ask for help (%)86.796.1 (.033)
 It is not important to tell or I do not know (%)13.33.4
Q4. What are a girl's private parts?
 vulva, vagina, buttocks and breast (%)93.6100 (.045)
 face, arms (%)40
Q5. What are a boy's private parts?
 penis, testicles, buttocks (%)95.2100 (.086)
 knees, teeth (%)4.80



Full article at:   http://goo.gl/2BV0qY

1Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
2Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
3Global Health Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
4Department of Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
 2014 Mar-Apr;80(2):103-7. doi: 10.1016/j.aogh.2014.04.004.




Effects of Abusive Parenting, Caretaker Arrests, and Deviant Behavior on Dating Violence among Homeless Young Adults

Though dating violence is widespread among young adult homeless populations, its risk factors are poorly understood by scholars. To address this gap, the current study uses a social learning theory to examine the effects of abusive parenting and caretaker arrests on dating violence among 172 homeless young adults. Results from path analyses revealed that child physical abuse and caretaker arrests were positively associated with engaging in a greater number of school fights, which, in turn, was strongly and positively correlated with participating in more deviant subsistence strategies (e.g., stealing) since being on the street. Young people who participated in a greater number of delinquent acts were more likely to report higher levels of dating violence. Study results highlight the extent of social learning within the lives of homeless young adults, which is evident prior to their leaving home and while they are on the street.

Below:  Correlates of Dating Violence



...Current study results show that those who experience higher rates of child physical abuse and those who report a caretaker who has ever been arrested are more likely to experience a greater number of school fights. Additionally, we find that child physical abuse is indirectly associated with dating violence through school fighting and deviant subsistence strategies. Next, findings reveal that young adults who report more school fighting engage in a greater number of deviant subsistence strategies, which is positively associated with more dating violence. Combined, these multiple factors create interlocking, transecting experiences of violence that can potentially reinforce one another in complex ways. These webs of violent behavior can serve to normalize aggression in homeless young adults’ lives. For example, these different behaviors create situations in which youth are exposed to and take part in many forms of violence such as at home, at school, and on the street. Moreover, engagement in deviant subsistence strategies, such as stealing, may be done for survival purposes when youth are homeless, but these behaviors also may lead to lower resistance to engaging in other crime such as assaulting a partner. Likewise, many of these youth may be dating other youth who have been similarly exposed to multiple forms of violence and when two such youth are in a relationship, this may increase the likelihood of dating violence. The present study highlights the extent of physical violence within the lives of homeless young adults, which is evident prior to their leaving home and while they are on the street...

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/vKN92c

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kimberly A. Tyler, PhD, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 717 Oldfather Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588. Phone: (402) 472-6073
Kimberly A. Tyler, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Rachel M. Schmitz, Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.




Monday, February 8, 2016

Characteristics of Child Maltreatment and Adolescent Marijuana Use

There has been increasing acceptance of marijuana use in the US in recent years, and rates among adolescents have risen. At the same time, marijuana use during adolescence has been linked to an array of health and social problems. Maltreated children are at risk for marijuana use, but the relationships among characteristics of maltreatment and marijuana use are unclear. 

In this paper we examine how the type and the extent of maltreatment are related to the level of adolescent marijuana use. Data analyses were conducted on a subsample of maltreated adolescents (n = 702) from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) project. Approximately half the sample had used marijuana, and maltreatment was associated with its use. 

Multivariate regression models showed that being male, extensive maltreatment, and peer marijuana use were associated with heavy use of marijuana. 

These findings suggest the importance of comprehensively assessing children’s maltreatment experiences and their peers’ drug use to help prevent or address possible marijuana use in these high-risk adolescents.

…Maltreatment was associated with marijuana use in bivariate models, but did not retain significance in models that adjusted for peer marijuana use. In terms of type of maltreatment, sexual abuse predicted marijuana use. This finding is consistent with earlier research (; ) which found that physical abuse and sexual abuse (and these combined) predicted substance abuse or dependence, although not specifically marijuana use. Physical abuse has also been found to predict earlier onset of substance use in young adolescents (). Those who experienced Extensive maltreatment were more likely to report Heavy Use of marijuana. This finding is consistent with research suggesting the importance of both early (e.g., ) and recent (i.e., adolescent) exposure to maltreatment (e.g., ). It appears likely that persistent exposure to maltreatment carries an especially high level of risk for adolescent substance use (). Indeed, Extensive CM was the one characteristic that significantly predicted adolescent marijuana use, after taking into account demographic variables and peer use.

With these caveats, this study’s findings, especially given earlier research, strongly suggest that children exposed to physical and sexual abuse are at increased risk of marijuana use. Child-serving professionals should begin to integrate the findings from this and other studies into discussions about effective interventions to decrease the likelihood of vulnerable populations engaging in illicit drug use – in this case, marijuana. Prior research suggests the importance of primary prevention and early intervention. Adolescents who use substances have been found to increase their use during adolescence (; ). This may be part of a risk-taking or emotional coping approach common among adolescents with maltreatment experiences (). Alternatively, recent research with veterans has highlighted the possibility that use of marijuana may be a form of self-medication of some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (), and our findings are consistent with this possibility as well. In any case, earlier studies have found that maltreatment and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the likelihood of future substance use well into adulthood (; ; ; ). Therefore, it is important to disrupt these potential trajectories at the earliest possible stage…

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/PfQz68

Howard Dubowitz, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore;
Corresponding Author: Howard Dubowitz, Department of Pediatrics, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 520 West Lombard Street, 1stFloor, Baltimore, Maryland 21201




Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Minimization of Childhood Maltreatment Is Common and Consequential

Childhood maltreatment has diverse, lifelong impact on morbidity and mortality. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is one of the most commonly used scales to assess and quantify these experiences and their impact. Curiously, despite very widespread use of the CTQ, scores on its Minimization-Denial (MD) subscale—originally designed to assess a positive response bias—are rarely reported. Hence, little is known about this measure. If response biases are either common or consequential, current practices of ignoring the MD scale deserve revision. 

Therewith, we designed a study to investigate 3 aspects of minimization, as defined by the CTQ’s MD scale: 1) its prevalence; 2) its latent structure; and finally 3) whether minimization moderates the CTQ’s discriminative validity in terms of distinguishing between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. Archival, item-level CTQ data from 24 multinational samples were combined for a total of 19,652 participants. Analyses indicated: 1) minimization is common; 2) minimization functions as a continuous construct; and 3) high MD scores attenuate the ability of the CTQ to distinguish between psychiatric patients and community volunteers. 

Overall, results suggest that a minimizing response bias—as detected by the MD subscale—has a small but significant moderating effect on the CTQ’s discriminative validity. Results also may suggest that some prior analyses of maltreatment rates or the effects of early maltreatment that have used the CTQ may have underestimated its incidence and impact. 

We caution researchers and clinicians about the widespread practice of using the CTQ without the MD or collecting MD data but failing to assess and control for its effects on outcomes or dependent variables.

Below:  Percentages of Clinical and Community Samples in CTQ Severity Quartiles



Full article at:   http://goo.gl/5cJT4g

By:  
Kai MacDonald, Michael L. Thomas, Beacher Schneider, Katherine Pappas, Murray B Stein
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, United States of America

Andres F. Sciolla
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America

Gijs Bleijenberg, Marianne Heins, Hans Knoop
Expert Center Chronic Fatigue, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Martin Bohus
Universität Heidelberg, Central Institute of Mental Health, Heidelberg, Germany

Bradley Bekh
Atlanta VA Medical Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Bradley Bekh
Department of Psychiatry, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Linda Carpenter
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America

Alan Carr
University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Udo Dannlowski
Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

Martin Dorahy
Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Claudia Fahlke
Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Ricky Finzi-Dottan, Tobi Karu
Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

Arne Gerdner
School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden

Heide Glaesmer
Department of Medical Psychology and Medical, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Hans Jörgen Grabe
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Helios Hospital Stralsund, Stralsund, Germany

Hans Jörgen Grabe
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Dianna T Kenny
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Daeho Kim
Department of Psychiatry, Hanyang University Medical School, Seoul, South Korea

Jill Lobbestael
Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

Christine Lochner
University of Stellenbosch, MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Grethe Lauritzen, Edle Ravndal
Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug research (SIRUS), and Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research (SERAF), University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Shelley Riggs
University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States of America

Vedat Sar
Koç University Medical School, Istanbul, Turkey

Ingo Schäfer
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

Nicole Schlosser
Research Department, Evangelical Hospital Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Melanie L Schwandt
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Claudia Subic-Wrana
Department für Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of Mainz University, Mainz, Germany

Mark Vogel
Division of Substance Use Disorders, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Katja Wingenfeld
Department of Psychiatry, Charité University Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany





Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Female Children with Incarcerated Adult Family Members at Risk for Life-Long Neurological Decline

A secondary analysis of data from adult female prison inmates in the mid-Atlantic United States defined relationships between having incarcerated adult family members during childhood and neurological outcomes. 

Of 135 inmates, 99 (60%) had one or more incarcerated adult family members during childhood. Regression analyses revealed that having incarcerated adult family members was related to greater frequency and severity of childhood abuse and higher incidence of neurological deficits in adulthood, especially related to traumatic brain injuries, compared to those without incarcerated adult family members. 

Along with being role models, adult family members impact the neurological health of children throughout their lifespan.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/opQXAn

  • 1 School of Nursing (http://sites.udel.edu/nursing/), College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware , Newark , Delaware , USA.
  • 2 College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware , Newark , Delaware , USA.
  • 3 United States Department of Veterans Affairs , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , USA.
  •  2016 Jan 20:0. 




 More about photo:  http://goo.gl/Dz7umb

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Children's Recantation of Adult Wrongdoing: An Experimental Investigation

Child maltreatment cases often hinge on a child's word versus a defendant's word, making children's disclosures crucially important. There is considerable debate concerning why children recant allegations, and it is imperative to examine recantation experimentally. 

The purpose of this laboratory analogue investigation was to test (a) how often children recant true allegations of an adult's wrongdoing after disclosing and (b) whether children's age and caregiver supportiveness predict recantation. During an interactive event, 6- to 9-year-olds witnessed an experimenter break a puppet and were asked to keep the transgression a secret. Children were then interviewed to elicit a disclosure of the transgression. Mothers were randomly assigned to react supportively or unsupportively to this disclosure, and children were interviewed again. We coded children's recantations (explicit denials of the broken puppet after disclosing) and changes in their forthcomingness (shifts from denial or claims of lack of knowledge/memory to disclosure and vice versa) in free recall and in response to focused questions about the transgression. 

Overall, 23.3% of the children recanted their prior disclosures (46% and 0% in the unsupportive and supportive conditions, respectively). No age differences in recantation rates emerged, but 8- and 9-year-olds were more likely than 6- and 7-year-olds to maintain their recantation throughout Interview 2. Children whose mothers reacted supportively to disclosure became more forthcoming in Interview 2, and those whose mothers reacted unsupportively became less forthcoming. 

Results advance theoretical understanding of how children disclose negative experiences, including sociomotivational influences on their reports, and have practical implications for the legal system.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/UhuX6g

By:  Malloy LC1Mugno AP2.
  • 1Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA. Electronic address: lmalloy@fiu.edu.
  • 2Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA.
  •  2016 Jan 6;145:11-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.12.003. 




Monday, January 4, 2016

Behavioral Couples Treatment for Substance Use Disorder: Secondary Effects on the Reduction of Risk for Child Abuse

Highlights
  • Behavioral couples treatment (BCT) attendance has indirect effects on child abuse risk via relationship satisfaction.
  • Fewer days of substance use benefits fathers' child abuse risk.
  • Relationship satisfaction, but not fewer days of substance use, impacts mothers' child abuse risk.
  • BCT may have secondary benefits on child abuse risk.
Risk for child abuse was examined prior to and after behavioral couples treatment (BCT) among 61 couples in which one or both parents were diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). All couples were residing with one or more school-age children. Mothers and fathers completed pretreatment, post-intervention, and 6-month post-intervention follow-up assessments. 

Results of piecewise latent growth models tested whether the number of BCT sessions attended and number of days abstinent from drugs and alcohol influenced relationship satisfaction and its growth over time, and in turn if relationship satisfaction and change in relationship satisfaction influenced risk for child abuse. 

For both mothers and fathers, attending more BCT sessions lead to a direct increase in relationship satisfaction, which in turn led to stronger reductions in risk for child abuse. This effect was maintained from the post-intervention through the 6-month post-intervention follow-up. 

For fathers, number of days abstinent significantly influenced reduction in child abuse potential at post-intervention via relationship satisfaction. This indirect effect was not present for mothers. The overall benefits of BCT on mothers' and fathers' risk for child abuse suggest that BCT may have promise in reducing risk for child abuse among couples in which one or both parents have SUD.

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/iw23Rx

Affiliations
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, United States
Correspondence
Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University (https://www.odu.edu/psychology), Norfolk, VA 23529-0267. Tel.: +1 757 683 4459; fax: +1 757 683 5087.
  
And: http://twitter.com/Prison Health


Shop Amazon - Kindle Book Deals

Friday, December 11, 2015

Childhood Trauma & Meth Abuse among Men Who Have Sex with Men: Implications for Intervention

Methamphetamine (meth) has become one of the most widely abused drugs in South Florida, particularly among MSM who may or may not be HIV seropositive. High rates of childhood trauma have been reported among HIV-infected MSM (Chartier et al., 2010), but, the association of childhood trauma, and mood disorders with methamphetamine use in HIV-infected men, has not been comprehensively explored. 

A better understanding of the association between these factors could improve existing substance abuse treatment intervention strategies and medical treatment programs (e.g., medication adherence; Carrico, 2010) to enhance positive health outcomes for male meth abusers living with the psychological consequences of childhood abuse. 

This study, as part of a larger study, examined the occurrence of childhood trauma and depression in a group of HIV seropositive meth abusing MSM. Significantly higher levels of depression symptom severity were found among meth users relative to non-meth users (p < .001). 

Irrespective of HIV status, meth users also reported higher frequencies of emotional, physical and sexual child abuse relative to non-meth users (p < .001). Among meth users, depression was predicted by childhood emotional neglect. These results suggest that childhood maltreatment may be implicated in the development of emotional distress (e.g., depression) and higher prevalence of methamphetamine/drug abuse in this population. 

These findings have important implications for substance abuse interventions, specifically targeting Meth addiction among MSM. Addressing childhood trauma and depression may play a key role in enhancing the effectiveness of interventions for methamphetamine addiction.

Purchase full article at:  http://goo.gl/8qmrKu

  • 1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA. Electronic address: mrosana512@yahoo.com.
  • 2Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA.



Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Appetitive Aggression & Adverse Childhood Experiences Shape Violent Behavior in Females Formerly Associated with Combat

This study investigated the impact of violent experiences during childhood, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and appetitive aggression on everyday violent behavior in Burundian females with varying participation in war. Moreover, group differences in trauma-related and aggression variables were expected. 

Appetitive aggression describes the perception of violence perpetration as fascinating and appealing and is a common phenomenon in former combatants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 158 females, either former combatants, supporters of armed forces or civilians during the civil war in Burundi. The PTSD Symptom Scale Interview was used to assess PTSD symptom severity, the Appetitive Aggression Scale to measure appetitive aggression and the Domestic and Community Violence Checklist to assess both childhood maltreatment and recent aggressive behavior. 

Former combatants had experienced more traumatic events, perpetrated more violence and reported higher levels of appetitive aggression than supporters and civilians. They also suffered more severely from PTSD symptoms than civilians but not than supporters. The groups did not differ regarding childhood maltreatment. Both appetitive aggression and childhood violence predicted ongoing aggressive behavior, whereas the latter outperformed PTSD symptom severity. 

These findings support current research showing that adverse childhood experiences and a positive attitude toward aggression serve as the basis for aggressive behavior and promote an ongoing cycle of violence in post-conflict regions. Female members of armed groups are in need of demobilization procedures including trauma-related care and interventions addressing appetitive aggression.

Below:  Differences between the three groups regarding (A) childhood violence, (B) traumatic event types, (C) perpetrated event types, (D) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and (E) appetitive aggression.  p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001.



Full article at:  http://goo.gl/SvzMAl

1Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
2Department of Psychology, University Lumière, Bujumbura, Burundi
Edited by: J. P. Ginsberg, Dorn VA Medical Center, USA
Reviewed by: Eric C. Porges, University of Florida, USA; Michelle Dow Keawphalouk, Harvard–MIT, USA
*Correspondence: Mareike Augsburger, ed.znatsnok-inu@regrubsgua.ekieram
This article was submitted to Psychology for Clinical Settings, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology