Parenting is one of the most salient influences in children's development, particularly during early childhood. Substantial theoretical and empirical evidence has linked sociodemographic risk to compromised parenting, and has contributed to the development of two-generation programs to support low-income parents and their young children. Despite decades of research on these families, little is known about how styles of parenting change across time, how children's emotion regulation influences parenting styles, or how risks predict longitudinal stability and change to parenting. Furthermore, it is unclear how one two-generation program, Early Head Start, promotes positive parenting styles and buffers against contextual risks. The aim of the three papers in this dissertation study is to describe maternal parenting within a low-income sample, by linking longitudinal trajectories of parenting to contextual risks, Early Head Start, children's emotion regulation (ER), and risk for child maltreatment. Guided by the bioecological model, and components specific to the Ecological-Transactional Model of Child Maltreatment (Cicchetti et al., 2010), these three papers indicate specific risks that are most salient to exhibiting unsupportive parenting behaviors: family conflict, maternal depression, and attitudes and beliefs that indicate risk for child physical abuse. Furthermore, the papers highlight important methodological considerations for the study of parenting at risk, children's ER, as well as for clinicians assessing risk. The three papers, collectively, highlight the complex interplay of determinants of parenting, including sociodemographic characteristics, psychological factors, interpersonal relationships, child effects, family-level characteristics, and Early Head Start involvement.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Child abuse is a problem worldwide and also a serious problem in South Africa. Recent statistics revealed an increase in reported cases. Incidence of abuse is difficult to determine accurately but there might be a million children involved annually (Berkow 1977: 1040). Available research indicates that disabled children across all types of disabilities are at a greater risk of all forms of abuse than non-disabled children. The causes of child abuse are complex and involve social factors. The general effect of poverty, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse are likely to be associated with child abuse. In addition the disability and its effects on the child and family as well as wider societal views of disability exacerbates the risk for disabled children and make apprehending and bringing perpetrators to justice more difficult. But, the topic requires further exploration. Thus the study evolved with the aim to explore parents‟ and caregiver‟s knowledge, attitudes and practices towards the abuse of children with disabilities in the Willowvale area of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A qualitative, descriptive study with a small quantitative component was done. The sample consisted of 24 participants, identified through snowball sampling, in five purposively sampled study areas in the Eastern Cape. Data was collected in March 2009 through a self-designed questionnaire that focused on knowledge of abuse and a focus group discussion in each site. Content analysis of data according to pre-determined themes was done. Results indicated low levels of knowledge on abuse as well as difficulties defining the concepts of disability and abuse. However, participants had a general awareness of the presence of abuse of children with disabilities and could provide many an example from personal experience. In addition participants indicated challenges with reporting of abuse such as being unsure what constitutes a criminal offence, what the lines and procedures of reporting are, being scared of the perpetrator and his or her family, being scared of losing social support and poor support from the police and legal system. It is recommended that customized education programs on disability and child abuse are developed and implemented for both parents of children with disabilities in the study communities as well as the communities at large. Developing and implementing these educational packages can be structured along community based rehabilitation guidelines. The current study participants can form the core group to represent children with disabilities. Implementation, monitoring and evaluation can be linked to local rehabilitation projects. In addition various local and provincial departments such as social services, health, education and safety and security must collaborate to develop and assist with implementing the education programs and materials. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Statistiek dui op `n toename in kindermishandeling. Die probleem kom wêreldwyd voor en neem ook in Suid Afrika ernstige afmetings aan. Spesifieke insidensiesyfers is moeilik bepaalbaar, maar dit wil voorkom asof `n miljoen gestremde kinders jaarliks mishandel word. Die risiko van mishandeling is groter vir gestremde kinders as vir nie-gestremde kinders. `n Komplekse interaksie tussen sosio- ekonomiese faktore soos armoede, werkloosheid, alkohol- en dwelmmisbruik kan dikwels met kindermishandeling geassosieer word. In die geval van gestremde kinders dra die effek van die gestremheid op die kind en familie, sowel as gemeenskappe se negatiewe houding teenoor gestremde kinders, by tot die risiko vir mishandeling en vergroot die uitdaging om die oortreder op te spoor en suksesvol te verhoor. Daar is egter steeds verskeie onduidelikhede oor die onderwerp en verder studie is nodig. Die huidige studie het beoog om ondersoek in te stel na die kennis, houdings en optrede van ouers en voogde van gestremde kinders in die Willowvale area van die Oos-Kaap, Suid-Afrika, ten opsigte van mishandeling van gestremde kinders. `n Kwalitatiewe beskrywende studie met `n klein kwantitatiewe komponent is gedoen Vier en twintig ouers of voogde van gestremde kinders uit vyf plekke in die Willowvale-gebied het aan die studie deelgeneem. Die studieplekke is doelbewus geselekteer en die deelnemers is deur middel van sneeubalseleksie geïdentifiseer. Data-insameling is deur middel van fokusgroepbesprekings en `n vraelys oor kennis van kindermishandeling in Maart 2009 gedoen. Die inhoud van die fokusgroep-besprekings is volgens voorafbepaalde temas geanaliseer. Die resultate dui daarop dat die deelnemers beperkte kennis van kindermishandeling het. Hulle het ook gesukkel om begrippe soos gestremdheid en kindermishandeling te definieer. Hulle was egter bewus daarvan dat mishandeling van gestremde kinders voorkom en kon vele voorbeelde uit eie ervaring opnoem. Volgens die data het deelnemers verskeie probleme met betrekking tot die aanmelding van kindermishandeling ervaar. Die probleme sluit onsekerheid oor wanneer mishandeling `n kriminele oortreding is, watter prosedure om te volg om mishandeling aan te meld, vrees vir die mishandelaar en sy/haar familie, vrees dat die gemeenskap hulle sal verwerp, asook onvoldoende ondersteuning van polisie en regssisteme in. Na aanleiding van die bevindinge word aanbeveel dat `n opvoedingsprogram oor gestremheid en kindermishandeling saamgestel en in die studiegemeenskappe geïmplimenteer word. Die program behhort op ouers en voogde van gestremde kinders sowel as op die breër gemeenskap te fokus. Deelnemers aan hierdie studie en bestaande gemeenskapsrehabilitasieprojekte kan genader word om die proses te bestuur. Voorts moet plaaslike en provinsiale regeringsverteenwoordigers van Gesondheid, Gemeenskaspontwikkeling, Opvoeding sowel as Veiligheid en Sekuriteit betrokke wees by die ontwikkeling, implementering en monitoring van die opleiding.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study explores representations of troubled childhoods in post-1990 African narratives. Defining troubled childhoods as the experiences of children exposed to different forms of violations including physical, psychological, sexual and emotional abuse, the study reflects on depictions of such experiences in a selection of contemporary African fictional texts in English. The study‘s central thesis is that, while particular authors‘ deployment of affective writing techniques offers implicit analysis of troubled childhoods, the knowledge about this reality that such literary texts produce and place in the public sphere resonates with readers because of the narrative textures that both make knowledge concerning such childhoods accessible and create a sense of the urgent plight of such children. They render troubled childhoods grieveable. The study delineates three attributes of the selected texts that explain why such fictions can be considered significant from both social and aesthetic perspectives: namely, their foregrounding of intertwined vectors of violation and/or vulnerability; their skilful use of multi-layered narrative voices and their creation of specific posttraumatic damage and survival tropes. The four main thesis chapters are organised thematically rather than conceptually or theoretically, because representations of troubled childhoods are contextually and experientially entangled. Using Maria Pia Lara‘s notion of ―illocutionary force‖ and specific aspects of trauma and affect theory, the study focuses centrally on how the units of narration construct persuasive and convincing depictions of troubled childhoods while using fiction to convene platforms for reflection on the phenomena of child victims of war violence, abusive parenting, sexual predation and sexual violation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek voorstellings van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde in post-1990 narratiewe deur skrywers van Afrika. Gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde word gedefinieer as die ondervindinge van kinders wat blootgestel is aan verskillende vorms van skending, insluitend fisiese, psigologiese, seksuele en emosionele skending. Met hierdie definisie in gedagte reflekteer die studie op gelselekteerde uitbeeldings van sulke ervarings in hedendaagse Afrika-fiksie in Engels. Die studie se sentrale tesis is dat, terwyl sekere outeurs se ontplooiïng van affektiewe skryftegnieke implisiete analise van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde bied, resoneer die kennis oor hierdie realiteit wat sulke literêre tekste oplewer en in die publieke sfeer plaas met die leespubliek omdat die struktuur van die narratiewe die verskynsel van kwellende kinder-ervarings onthul en bewustheid van die dringende aard van die verskynsel bemoontlik. Sulke kinderlewens word op hierdie manier treurbaar [grievable] gemaak. Die studie delinieer drie eienskappe van die gekose tekste wat verduidelik waarom hierdie tekste vanuit beide sosiale en estetiese perspektiewe as beduidend beskou kan word, naamlik die verstrengelde vektors van verkragting en kwesbaarheid wat hulle op die voorgrond bring, hul bekwame gebruik van veellagige narratiewe stemme en hul skepping van spesifieke posttraumatiese skade- en oorlewingstrope. Die vier middelste tesis-hoofstukke is tematies in plaas van konsepsueel of teoreties georganiseer, omdat voorstellings van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde kontekstueel- en ervaringsverstrik is. Met die gebruik van Maria Pia Lara se begrip van illocutionary force en spesifieke aspekte van trauma- en inwerkingsteorie fokus die studie hoofsaaklik op hoe die narratiewe eenhede oorhalende en oortuigende afbeeldings van gekwelde kinder-ervaringswêrelde konstrueer terwyl hulle fiksie gebruik om platforms vir refleksie op die fenomeen van kinderslagoffers van oorlogsgeweld, misbruikende ouerskap en seksuele- predasie en verkragting byeen te bring.

INTRODUCTION: Child maltreatment is a significant public health problem that affects all countries and cultures alike. Child maltreatment, which includes neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse, can result in negative consequences that are lifelong and irreversible. Previous studies have shown the prevalence of all forms of child abuse in India, which is also home to one fifth of the world’s children. However, adequate resources and efforts are not being made to understand the true scope of this problem. AIM: The present study utilized an existing measure, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), to understand how parents from the South Indian culture defined acceptable child rearing practices and physical and emotional child abuse. The items from the physical and emotional abuse subscales on the CTQ were also tested for validity and reliability. It was hypothesized that fathers would report higher scores on the physical abuse subscale and mothers would report higher scores on the emotional abuse subscale. It was also hypothesized that parents would find spanking to be an acceptable form of discipline and note that both child physical and emotional abuse are not prevalent in the South Indian community residing in the United States. METHODS: This study recruited 41 participants (21 mothers and 20 fathers) to complete the CTQ. Of the total number of participants, ten were randomly assigned to participate in an in-depth interview, which focused on how parents in the South Indian community in Georgia interpreted the items on the CTQ and how parents defined child physical and emotional abuse. Reliability and validity testing was conducted using data analysis software SPSS 23.0. Qualitative analysis of the interviews involved Consensual Qualitative Research, identifying common themes among all ten interviews. RESULTS: Quantitative analysis revealed low to moderate internal consistency for the emotional abuse scale (α = 0.65) and moderate to high internal consistency for the physical abuse scale (α = 0.88). Independent t-test results showed that fathers reported higher scores on both the physical and emotional abuse subscale; however, these results were not significant. Using the Consensual Qualitative Research method, six domains were determined from the interviews. These included: (a) parent perspectives on child rearing practices, (b) spanking as a discipline practice, (c) country differences between India and the United States regarding discipline, (d) prevalence of abuse among the South Indian community in the United States, (e) reporting child abuse, and (f) parents’ awareness of resources to develop parenting skills. A majority of participants reported spanking as an acceptable form of discipline and believed that neither child physical nor emotional abuse was prevalent in the South Indian community in the United States. CONCLUSION: This study serves as formative research and encourages further investigation of different forms of child abuse in Indian populations, specifically child physical and emotional abuse. Understanding how a culture views children and child rearing practices is important in determining how abuse is defined within said culture. Societies that are more lenient and accepting of violence in general are at a greater risk for perpetrating the maltreatment of children. Establishing a concise definition of child abuse will aid in the development of valid measures that will determine the actual scope of the problem and create solutions, such as laws and policies that will shift a society’s view on appropriate interactions with children.

The scientific study of child abuse and infanticide is a relatively young practice in the field of medicine, psychiatry and psychology, and although the role of parents in child homicide has been studied, minimal research has focused on the role of the male paramour, or the child's mother's boyfriend, as the perpetrator of child homicides. This study aimed to examine the differences between male paramours and biological fathers who kill children and hypothesized that biological fathers or step-fathers are significantly more likely than the child's mother's male paramour to kill their children due to relationship factors between the perpetrator and the child's mother, specifically and for the purpose of this study in the context of domestic violence. Child homicides committed by male paramours, in comparison, are more likely to have resulted from factors that are individually or child-centered. Decedent children ages 0-17 that were killed at the hands of their biological father, male-stepfather, or biological mother's male paramours between the years 1999 through 2005 in Miami-Dade County were be studied. The age of the perpetrators and child victims killed by the two groups were compared using an independent samples t-test, with a significance level set at .05. The two groups of male perpetrators were compared on prior domestic violence histories, prior criminal histories, evidence of prior trauma to the child, and perpetration of multiple homicide and post-incident suicide using a chi-square test, with a significance level set of .05. Significant differences were found between the two groups. Specifically, paramours are significantly more likely to be younger than biological fathers and children killed by paramours are more likely to evidence prior trauma. Further, biological fathers are significantly more likely to have a history of domestic violence, as a perpetrator, engage in multiple killings, and commit suicide after perpetrating the child death. The study demonstrates the need for prevention resources to target the two groups differently, to be most effective in prevention. The study also demonstrates the need for more extensive research comparing differences child homicide versus child abuse and in those that perpetrate the two. Lastly, it should inform public policy and the law and how these are applied to cases of domestic violence and child welfare.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

This study tested an underlying assumption of professionals who interview young children with anatomically correct dolls: children who have been sexually abused react differently to interviews with the dolls than children who have not been sexually abused. The behavior of a group of children who were referred to a mental health clinic in the southwestern United States because of suspected sexual abuse was compared to the behavior of a group of children referred to the same clinic for other reasons while the children were interviewed by clinicians using anatomically correct dolls. The study examined four categories of behavior which consisted of indicators of child sexual abuse from the literature. The four categories were: (1) sexual behavior; (2) anger/aggression; (3) anxiety/regression; and (4) avoidant behavior. Clinicians at the mental health clinic identified potential subjects for the study from the outpatient population. Parents were given written and verbal descriptions of the study and asked to contact the researcher if they were interested in allowing their child to participate. The voluntary nature of participation in the study was stressed. Eleven children who were referred because of suspected sexual abuse and eleven children referred for other reasons were successfully recruited. Groups were matched as closely as possible as to sex, age, racial/ethnic group and developmental level. Two dependent measures were employed: the Behavioral Checklist and the Likelihood of Victimization Scale. Both instruments were designed for the research study. The Behavioral Checklist was completed by two observers who watched each interview from behind a one-way mirror. The Likelihood of Victimization Scale was completed by the clinicians who interviewed the children. Observers as well as interviewers were blind to the referral status of the children. Statistically significant differences were obtained for two of the four categories of the Behavioral Checklist. The same two categories correlated significantly with the Likelihood of Victimization Scale. The results provided support for the assumption tested.

Few controlled studies exist that examine specific hypotheses about abusive families, especially with regard to direct behavioral observation. Despite two decades of research on child abuse, surprisingly little is known about the specific behavioral excesses and deficits in the parenting skills of abusive parents. In this study, 11 physically abusive mother-child pairs were compared with 12 nonabusive matched controls in a laboratory playroom situation. Parenting skills, as well as interaction patterns, were assessed using three different tasks designed to create varying levels of parental stress and child frustration. One task, known as the Child's Game, consisted of the mother playing with her child in a free play situation where the child was given the instructions to select the toy or game. On the second task, the Parent's Game, mothers were told to select the activity and motivate their children to play along with them. The last task, the Bean Game, required mothers to induce their children to put beans into a decorated jar for a relatively long period of time. Mother-child interactions were observed and coded, providing frequency (rate per minute) and proportion (percentage of each behavior relative to total behavior) data on the occurrence of twelve behaviors hypothesized from the literature to be potentially relevant to parenting ability. Questionnaire measures of knowledge of child behavior, and social desirability were also administered. Discriminant function analyses of the data revealed that 10 of 11 abusive mothers and 10 of 12 control mothers could correctly identified, representing an 87% classification rate. The predominant difference between the two groups was in overall rate of activity. Abusive mothers were seen to engage in significantly less behavior than control mothers; behavior rates were essentially similar for both groups of children. One individual behaviors, questions and approval statements were the only two categories that significantly differed, with abusive mothers less likely to engage in either one. However, when frequency of behavior was corrected for overall rate effects, no differences on individual behaviors were found. Abusive mothers were also observed to use less contingent praise while abused children were found to comply to commands less often. Speculation as to which behavioral patterns mediate abusive episodes, as well as suggestions as to how to better design diagnostic, treatment and prevention programs are offered.

Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield abounds with fatherless and motherless children, whose development into adolescence and adulthood is strongly affected by the parenting skills of the remaining parent. This essay studies different parenting and educational practices in the novel to see their impact on the behaviour and personality of the children. In Victorian England, two opposing views of childhood flourished: the Puritan one believing in childhood depravity, and the Romantic view based on childhood innocence. In addition, there were gender differences in upbringing stemming from the middle-class cult of domesticity as well as differences based on class distinctions. While Dickens seems to accept moral firmness, the Victorian ideal of manhood and womanhood, as the main goal of upbringing, he appears to disagree with Victorian child management practices. This essay shows the deficiencies and negative outcomes of the parenting styles based on the two opposing moral views, depicted in Mr. Murdstone’s Puritan discipline and Mrs. Steerforth’s parenting, which reflects the Romantic view of the child.  On the basis of the negative consequences of these two extremes, Dickens stresses the importance of a sound view of the child exemplified by Aunt Betsey’s loving discipline accompanied by guidance and responsibility, as well as by the educational practices in Doctor Strong’s school. Furthermore, this Victorian Bildungsroman emphasises the importance of a confidential loving relationship between the guardian and the child as well as proper education and social conditioning.

How did the Royal Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children protect children in post war Glasgow? The analysis in this study of the 'construction' of child protection is centred upon three questions relating to the practice of the RSSPCC: What forms did intervention take? Who was the focus of practice? How and why did practice change during the 30 year period, 1960-1990, of this study? The period 1960-1990 witnessed rapid political, economic and social changes which contributed to the recognition by the state of social problems which affected families. The RSSPCC (founded in 1884) was established by the beginning of the twentieth century as the principal arm of the state in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect throughout Scotland. The Society sustained this key role up to the middle of the 1970s and then lost it completely in 1992. This study is not a history of the RSSPCC. However an historical perspective was adopted to further understanding of the organisation's role in Scottish society and in the lives of families whose standards of parenting were causing concern. The sources of that concern were found often within the family. Many mothers (less often fathers) sought assistance from the RSSPCC only to find themselves subjects of intense scrutiny and intervention. The analysis and conclusions of this study are derived from: the RSSPCC case records of intervention in the lives of 1,500 families, the records of 120 prosecutions of parents for cruelty and or neglect, a selection of Annual Reports from 1889 to 1993, and interviews with 51 RSSPCC staff. A theoretical framework which brought historical sociology, post structuralist models of power and feminism together with the concept of 'Adocentrism' (the unswerving allegiance to adult values) was developed to illuminate the puzzles, paradoxes and complexities of the changing constructions of child protection. This study concludes that the 'construction' of child protection developed and changed in response to a number of factors. However, the power to define and negotiate the subjects and boundaries of intervention was invariably retained by the professionals and furthermore the focus of that intervention was predominantly with and between adults.