Research has suggested that behaviors beginning in childhood or adolescence may play a mediating role in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and involvement in prostitution. It is currently unknown how poor self-concept and low self-efficacy play a mediating relationship in this association. The primary purpose of this correlational study was to evaluate early youth problem behaviors such as poor self-concept and reduced self-efficacy as possible mediators in the association between childhood abuse/neglect and participation in prostitution during young adulthood. The central research questions explored the association between childhood maltreatment and involvement in prostitution, as well as how self-concept and self-efficacy mediate the association between childhood maltreatment and engagement in prostitution in young adulthood. The Eco-developmental theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data consisted of 4,882 adolescents in Grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-1995 school year from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 61 of whom self-reported activity in prostitution. Results from Pearson correlations and Structural Equation Models indicated a relationship between childhood maltreatment and prostitution during young adulthood; self-efficacy and self-concept did not mediate this relationship. Childhood abuse was not a significant predictor of self-efficacy and self-efficacy was not significantly related to prostitution. Childhood maltreatment was a significant, negative predictor of positive self-concept. By demonstrating that childhood maltreatment is linked to prostitution in young adulthood, this research can foster positive social change, by showing the value of creating intervention programs that target childhood abuse in order to reduce involvement in prostitution in young adulthood.

Thesis (M.A. (Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental behavioural disorder among school-age children, which in most cases continues into adolescence and adulthood and is mainly characterized by inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. The aim of the study was to establish the relationship between ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity/impulsiveness and inattention) and child abuse (emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse and sexual abuse). Method: A total of 191 participants (without a clinical diagnosis of ADHD) participated in the study. The participants were assessed on a battery consisting of the BSSA (Barkley‘s Symptoms Scale for Adolescents) and CMIS (Child Maltreatment Interview Schedule). The ADHD scores on BSSA have been correlated with scores on the CMIS. The results were analysed using the Pearson‘s product-moment correlation to show a relationship between ADHD symptoms and a history of child abuse. Results: A positive, but weak relationship between ADHD symptoms and all the measured forms of child abuse was indicated, with inattention symptoms showing a slightly higher relationship than the hyperactivity/impulsiveness symptoms. Conclusion: There is a significant although weak relationship, between ADHD symptoms and all forms of child abuse in non-impaired adolescents.

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo / The aim of the current study was to explore and describe the views on child homicide by mothers. The qualitative research approach, and in particular the phenomenological method of inquiry was used. A sample of seventeen mothers (with ages ranging from thirteen to fifty three years) was drawn from four female correctional centres in South Africa, namely; Thohoyandou (Limpopo Province), Polokwane (Limpopo Province), Johannesburg correctional centre (Gauteng Province) and Durban Westville correctional centre (KwaZulu-Natal Province). The sample was obtained through purposive sampling. All the participants were interviewed using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using the phenomenological method. The themes that emerged from data analysis were: a) Motives for child homicide; b) Type of methods used in child homicide; and, c) Pre- and post-homicidal ideations and behaviour. The study revealed that there were different motives leading mothers to commit child homicide. These included: child homicide as a result of everyday stressors that the mothers encountered;child homicide as an act of altruism; child homicide to gain acceptance; perpetrators of child homicide as victims of abuse; child homicide as accidental; child homicide attributed to witchcraft; and, mental illness as amotive for child homicide. The study also highlighted different types of methods used by the mothers to commit child homicide. The methods included: the use of weapons; hitting, dropping and strangling; suffocation; drowning; and, poisoning. The findings also suggested that pre-homicidal ideations and behaviour of the participants were associated with anger, depression, frustration and self blame. The participants showed post-homicidal ideations and behaviour such as remorse, regret and guilt, whilst others felt a sense of relief and were somehow hopeful about the future. The study is concluded by making recommendations for further research on child homicide based on larger samples.

Thesis (M. A. (Psychology)) --University of Limpopo, 2014 / The aim of the current study was to explore and describe the views on child homicide by mothers. The qualitative research approach, and in particular the phenomenological method of inquiry was used. A sample of seventeen mothers (with ages ranging from thirteen to fifty three years) was drawn from four female correctional centres in South Africa, namely; Thohoyandou (Limpopo Province), Polokwane (Limpopo Province), Johannesburg correctional centre (Gauteng Province) and Durban Westville correctional centre (KwaZulu-Natal Province). The sample was obtained through purposive sampling. All the participants were interviewed using in-depth semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using the phenomenological method. The themes that emerged from data analysis were: a) Motives for child homicide; b) Type of methods used in child homicide; and, c) Pre- and post-homicidal ideations and behaviour. The study revealed that there were different motives leading mothers to commit child homicide. These included: child homicide as a result of everyday stressors that the mothers encountered;child homicide as an act of altruism; child homicide to gain acceptance; perpetrators of child homicide as victims of abuse; child homicide as accidental; child homicide attributed to witchcraft; and, mental illness as amotive for child homicide. The study also highlighted different types of methods used by the mothers to commit child homicide. The methods included: the use of weapons; hitting, dropping and strangling; suffocation; drowning; and, poisoning. The findings also suggested that pre-homicidal ideations and behaviour of the participants were associated with anger, depression, frustration and self blame. The participants showed post-homicidal ideations and behaviour such as remorse, regret and guilt, whilst others felt a sense of relief and were somehow hopeful about the future. The study is concluded by making recommendations for further research on child homicide based on larger samples.

Natural and technological disasters impact thousands of families in the United States each year. Catastrophic events leave homelessness, unemployment, injury, and death in their wake. The cost to society is usually measured in homes destroyed, jobs lost, casualties, and expected dollar expense of recovery. There are the social, psychological, and family consequences of catastrophic stressors. Anecdotal reports suggest that among these consequences is an increase in family violence, including child abuse. This dissertation tests the hypotheses that reported and confirmed child abuse increases in the wake of natural disasters. Child Protective Services (CPS) records of several jurisdictions that have experienced natural disasters during the past decade were examined. Data were collected from counties in South Carolina impacted by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, counties in California affected by the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, and parishes in Louisiana impacted by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The numbers of reports and confirmations for a one-year period following each of these events were compared with those for the year prior to the disaster. Analyses of these data indicated statistically significant increases in child abuse reports during the first 6 months following Hurricane Hugo and the Lama Prieta Earthquake, but showed no statistically significant change following Hurricane Andrew. The study concluded that reactions to natural disasters vary for a number of different reasons. The findings from California and South Carolina indicated that there are changes in patterns of reporting and/or confirmation of child abuse following catastrophes. CPS workers in each of the impacted areas were interviewed to obtain their impressions regarding the extent and causes of these changes in reporting and substantiation. Recommendations that governmental and social service agencies dedicate resources and develop programs to address this specific problem following catastrophes were included. Future research that replicates this study and the development of methodologies that do not depend on official reports and investigations were recommended.

The current study examined the relationship between program fidelity, or adherence to the program model, and program outcomes using the Healthy Family America Program Model. Specifically, 103 program sites were evaluated based on their adherence to the program model. The outcome indices included the percentage of children with updated immunizations and the percentage of children with primary care physicians. First order correlations, multiple regression, and canonical correlation were used to analyze the data. The results of the study are mixed. Specifically, an overall index of fidelity is positively related the percentage of children with updated immunizations, but not to the percentage of children with primary care physicians. Additionally, only one of the 11 facets of fidelity was related to the percentage of children with updated immunizations. Both the implications for these findings and future avenues for research are discussed.

This study was conducted to replicate and extend previous research on infant caregiver behavior by demonstrating negative reinforcement of infant caregiver behavior in response to crying and teaching appropriate care responses under conditions of inconsolable crying. A computerized infant simulator was used to create a laboratory simulation of infant caregiving. In Study 1, participants were exposed to negative reinforcement conditions and an extinction condition. In the negative reinforcement condition, participants engaged in caregiving responses to escape from the cry. In the extinction condition, the cry was inescapable and two of three participants stopped engaging in the previously reinforced caregiving response. Data was collected on cumulative duration of caregiving responses. In Study 2, participants were taught a task analysis of appropriate care responses under conditions of inconsolable crying using behavior skills training. Data were collected on percentage of completed appropriate care responses. Results showed acquisition of appropriate care responses following training.

No description available.

The outcomes of a child protection/family support programme, the Cottage Community Care Pilot Project, were evaluated in this study. The evaluation employed a non-equivalent comparison group design of 'at risk' consenting first-time mothers in the perinatal period with babies up to 6 weeks of age. Ninety-three families were recruited and 58 of these were matched with a trained volunteer home visitor. Analysis of assessment items and questionnaires, reviews of hospital records and the Department of Community Services Child abuse and neglect notification register and focus groups with mothers and volunteers provided the information used in this study. The CCCP had an impact on particular aspects of family function, certain infant and maternal health indices and the families' use of community services, but its contribution to reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect is less clear. Client and volunteer feedback indicated support for the programme. While home visitation by trained volunteers is not proposed as the total answer for effective child protection or family support, the findings of this evaluation suggest that there is a place for similar programmes. / Master of Science (Hons)

In this thesis I have developed a theoretical framework using Michel Foucault’s metaphor of the panopticon and applied the resulting discursive methodology to prominent risk assessment texts in Tasmanian Government child protection services. From the analysis I have developed an innovation poststructural practice of discursive empathy for use in child protection social work. Previous research has examined discourses such as madness, mothering, the family and masculinity using Foucault’s ideas and argued that each is a performance of social government. However my interest is in ‘the best interests of the child’ as governmentality; risk as the apparatus through which it is conducted and child abuse its social effect. In applying a discursive analysis, practices of risk assessment are therefore understood to actually produce intellectual and material conditions favourable to child abuse, rather than protect children from maltreatment. The theoretical framework produces in this thesis incorporates three distinct components of Foucault’s interpretive analytics of power: archaeology, genealogy and ethics. These components provide a structure for discourse analysis that is also a coherent methodical practice of Foucault’s notion of ‘parrhesia’. The practice of parrhesia involves social workers recognised that social power is subjectively dispersed yet also hierarchical. Using this notion I have analysed ‘the best interest of the child’ as a panopticon and argued that child abuse is a consequence. This thesis therefore demonstrates how child protection social workers can expose the political purpose involved in the discourse ‘the best interests of the child’, and in doing so challenge the hostile intellectual and material conditions that exist for children in our community. In concluding, I identify how discursive empathy is a readily accessible skill that social workers can use to practice parrhesia in a creative way.