Child abuse – College 1 – Introduction and consequences
Information about the course
- Exam material: All literature in the syllabus, lecture slides
- Exam: 3 Open ended questions and 20 multiple-choice
How many families are we talking about?
- Nederland:
• 4-16% Physical abuse.
• 10% Neglect/Emotional abuse
• 5-10 % Sexual abuse
- Tip of the iceberg. These are the kids you are sure of, but many children are
undetected
- Nederland vs. worldwide. Hard to measure because of cultural differences
- Source? Official records? Parent/teacher/professional/child report?
Grey areas:
- Vegan diet for young children / Other strict diets
- Obesity
- Cultural differences
Statements
1. Non-accidental burning a child is an example of physical abuse.
→ True.
2. Not taking a child to the doctor when he/she needs to is an example of emotional
abuse
→Not true. It is emotional neglect. It is not physical neglect (not giving food/shelter).
It is medical neglect.
3. Drunk driving by the parent (with the child in the same care) is an example of physical
neglect.
→ True. The parent is depriving the child of a safe environment.
4. Locking a child in a room is an example of emotional neglect
ACE-study (Vincent Felitti)
- Focus: Study naar obesity, weight and At-first Childhood Experiences (ACE)
- CAN is related to any aspects of physical and mental health
- Cumulative effect (more types of CAN more chance)
- ACEs:
→ Psychological abuse
→ Physical abuse
→ Sexual abuse
→ Substance abuse in household
→ Mental illness in household
, → Mother treated violently
→ Criminal behavior in household (incarcerated)
Aces are related to:
- Physical and mental health
- Social development
- Educational outcomes
- Child’s developing brain structure
- Neuroendocrine system
PCEs (Positive Childhood Experiences) (Hinojosa)
- Large sample: 22.628 aged 6-17
- National Survey of Childrens Health – Parent report
- Mental health disorders
- Added ACEs:
→ Divorce, discrimination, sibling violence
- PCEs:
→ Supportive relationships (family communication, mentorship
→ Safe, stable environment (neighborhood safety and support)
→ Opportunities for constructive social engagement (sport, other lessons/activities)
-
→ Moderation effect of PCEs on ACEs and mental health disorders
- Critical view:
→ Parent reports. Are they trustworthy?
, → Causality?
→ Other PCEs?
CAN subtypes and health – Clemens
- Random selection of households
- N = 2510. Mean age = 48,4
- Childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ)
- Results: zie table (slides of article)
- Sexual abuse is the only type of maltreatment that was not related to áll diseases
- Critical view:
→ M age: 48. Retrospective design?
→ One questionnaire. Is that enough?
→ Mechanisms? Biological: HPA axis dysregulation, chronic inflammatory processes,
socioeconomic, behavioral
MUSP – Stratheam
- Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (longitudinal study of 40 year)
- 14 years (5200) and 21 years (3778)
- Self-reports and cognitive testing
- Substantiated maltreatment
- 46 outcomes:
→ Cognition and education
→ Psychological and mental health
→ Addiction & substance abuse
→ Sexual health
→ Physical health
- Outcomes:
→ Lower cognitive scores
→ Negative education/employment outcomes
→ Mental health problems
→ Substance abuse and addiction
→ Sexual health problems
→ Physical health problems
→ Emotional abuse and neglect most associations
- Critical view
→ Selfreports?
→ Only 7% experiences CAN
Childhood maltreatment and obesity – Tan
- 44 data sets from 41 studies
- 190.000 participants
- Maltreated individuals more likely to be obese
- Critical view
→ Causality? Are obese children more likely to be maltreated? Maltreatment →
depression → Obesity?
→ Association nonsignificant for children
, → Childhood maltreatment associated with progressive increase of body mass over
time, after maltreatment occurred.
Study question:
1. What could be a problem with retrospective studies about the consequences of CAN?
2. What is the meta-analytic evidence for long-term consequences of child maltreatment?
3. What do we consider as Can and which types do we distinguish?-
4. Explain the following sentence: ACEs have a cumulative effect on the development of
psychological and physical problems