1. Child maltreatment as a function of cumulative family risk: Findings from the intensive family preservation program
- Author
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Jay L. Ringle, Walter A. Mason, Kristin Duppong Hurley, Ronald W. Thompson, and Irina Patwardhan
- Subjects
Child abuse ,Male ,Parents ,050103 clinical psychology ,Domestic Violence ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Psychological intervention ,Immediate family ,Neglect ,Risk Factors ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Child Abuse ,Child ,Disadvantage ,media_common ,05 social sciences ,Stressor ,United States ,Family preservation ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Alcoholism ,Mental Health ,Socioeconomic Factors ,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health ,Domestic violence ,Female ,Family Relations ,Psychology ,050104 developmental & child psychology ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
This study examined child maltreatment as a function of cumulative family risk in a sample of at-risk families (N=837) who were referred to an intensive family preservation program because of child behavior problems or suspected child abuse and neglect. The goal of this intensive family preservation program is to improve parenting skills and reduce immediate family stressors that may lead to an increased risk of child abuse and neglect. The findings indicate that the most prominent family risks comprising the cumulative risk scale in our sample were socio-economic disadvantage (e.g., income, unemployment, housing instability) and parental characteristics (e.g., mental/physical health, parental use of alcohol, domestic violence). Further, the results demonstrated a strong quadratic trend in the relationship between cumulative family risk and child maltreatment, and identified a risk threshold effect at three cumulative family risks after which the child risk for maltreatment increased exponentially. These findings are interpreted in the light of the current research on differentiative interventions, supporting differentiated services to the families with low vs. higher risk for child maltreatment.
- Published
- 2016