Influence of caregiver network support and caregiver psychopathology on child mental health need and service use in the LONGSCAN study.

Using structural equation modeling, this study examined the relationship of caregiver network support on caregiver and child mental health need, as well as child mental health service use among 1075 8-year-old children participating in the LONGSCAN study. The final model showed acceptable fit (χ(2) = 301.476, df = 136, p<0.

Identifying children at high risk for a child maltreatment report.

Objective: To help professionals identify factors that place families at risk for future child maltreatment, to facilitate necessary services and to potentially help prevent abuse and neglect.

Method: The data are from a prospective, longitudinal study of 332 low-income families recruited from urban pediatric primary care clinics, followed for over 10 years, until the children were approximately 12 years old. Children with prior child protective services involvement (CPS) were excluded.

When family drawings reveal vulnerabilities and resilience.

Sonia's mother was concerned about her 9-year old daughter's aggression, defiant behavior, and distractibility. When she was 4-years, she kicked her bother and he lost a tooth as a result of the trauma. At this time, her pediatrician was concerned about hyperactivity, impulsivity, and defiance of authority and recommended a psychological evaluation.

When family drawings reveal vulnerabilities and resilience.

Sonia's mother was concerned about her 9-year old daughter's aggression, defiant behavior, and distractibility. When she was 4-years, she kicked her bother and he lost a tooth as a result of the trauma. At this time, her pediatrician was concerned about hyperactivity, impulsivity, and defiance of authority and recommended a psychological evaluation.

At-risk and maltreated children exposed to intimate partner aggression/violence: what the conflict looks like and its relationship to child outcomes.

Despite increasing research on children's exposure to intimate partner aggression/violence (IPAV), and co-occurrence of IPAV and maltreatment, little is known about IPAV in at-risk and maltreating families. We explored the nature of IPAV in 554 homes where children were identified as at risk or reported for maltreatment and examined differences between emotional and behavioral outcomes for children in homes where one or both intimate partners is the alleged perpetrator of IPAV. We found in this sample that IPAV primarily took the form of verbal aggression with differences in perpetrator gender for verbal, minor, and severe violence.

Child and adult victimization: sequelae for female caregivers of high-risk children.

Little is known about the effects of child versus adult victimization or about the effects of victimization on physical health or social support. Mental and physical health outcomes among 890 female caregivers were examined utilizing data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). The study examined whether victimized women (compared to nonvictimized women) would endorse higher rates of depression, lower levels of social support, and poorer recent health.

Children's self-report about violence exposure: an examination of the Things I Have Seen and Heard Scale.

Children's exposure to violence is often found to be an important predictor of child outcomes. The measures most frequently used to assess it have not been systematically examined, and there is little consensus about how to use these measures. This study examined a version of the Things I Have Seen and Heard Scale in a sample of 784 children who completed the scale at both age 6 and 8.