Child maltreatment is a serious public health problem that leads to psychological, physical, behavioral, and economic burdens for children and broader community. Current data suggest that child maltreatment has declined over the past 20 years with the smallest declines in child neglect. In 2013, medical neglect represented approximately 31% of all substantiated cases of child maltreatment. SafeCare® is an evidence-based home visiting program that targets risk factors for child maltreatment by providing three modules: home safety, health, and parent-child interaction, or parent-infant interaction for children who are not walking. The SafeCare health module aims to teach parents how to identify and treat their children when they become ill, reducing the potential for medical neglect. Previous SafeCare research demonstrated that incorporating cell phones into training improves home safety and parent-child interaction outcomes. The current research evaluated the SafeCare health module and the effect cell phone enhancements had on parents’ child health knowledge. Data reaffirm the value of the SafeCare health module to increase parental child health skills and that incorporating cell phone technology may promote generalization and may engage participants and increase effectiveness.

This research was designed to contribute to an understanding of child outcomes and parenting practices associated with father-perpetrated maltreatment, as well as to identify processes that may contribute to emotion regulation difficulties in maltreated children. In particular, the studies described in this dissertation investigated paternal emotion socialization practices as potential pathways to emotion dysregulation in physically maltreated children. In the first study, a normative sample of 200 young adults participated in a retrospective analysis, whereby participants completed questionnaires designed to measure the relationships between history of physical maltreatment, emotion socialization, and current-day emotion regulation. In this study, 26.9% of participants endorsed a childhood history of father-perpetrated physical maltreatment. The second study explored these same relationships in a concurrent analysis of physically maltreating and non-maltreating father-child dyads. Fourteen physically maltreated children and their fathers were recruited from the Children’s Aid Society and treatment programs for abusive fathers, and a control group matched on demographic variables was recruited from the community. Father-child dyads participated in an emotion interaction task where they discussed the child’s experience of negative emotions; interactions were videotaped and coded for fathers’ validating and invalidating responses to children’s emotions. Fathers and children also completed measures that further assessed paternal emotion socialization, as well as children’s emotion regulation. Across both studies, findings indicated that physically maltreated children experienced more difficulties with emotion regulation than their non-maltreated peers. Moreover, abusive fathers were more likely to use non-supportive (neglect, punish, invalidation) and anger magnifying socialization practices, and less likely to use supportive (reward, validation) emotion socialization. Finally, results showed that the relationship between physical maltreatment and emotion dysregulation was mediated through the indirect effects of emotion socialization (reward, neglect, punish, magnify anger, validation, invalidation). In particular, data from child maltreatment victims consistently indicated that paternal neglect of negative emotions and magnification of anger were the strongest unique mediators. Together, results highlight the important role of fathers in the regulatory development of maltreated children. Furthermore, they provide support for intervention efforts designed to decrease non-supportive emotion socialization, while fostering anger management, emotional responsivity, and emotion coaching skills for physically abusive fathers.

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The current study examined the utility of Self-Trauma Theory for explaining the long-term impact of the experience of childhood physical discipline and/or psychological maltreatment. Specifically, the self-capacities of interpersonal relatedness, identity, and affect regulation were tested as mediators of the impact of child maltreatment on different tension-reducing behaviors in adulthood: substance use, aggression, and suicidality. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine data collected from 268 university students who completed the Personality Assessment Inventory, Comprehensive Child Maltreatment Scale, and Inventory of Altered Self-Capacities. Results showed that the self-capacities were each predicted by different combinations of maltreatment variables and that the ability of self-capacities to mediate the long-term impact of child maltreatment is dependent on the tension-reducing behavior under examination. Specifically, identity impairment significantly predicted alcohol use problems and interpersonal conflicts significantly predicted drug use problems. Interpersonal conflicts partially mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and aggression as emotional abuse continued to exert a significant effect on aggression after controlling for self-capacities. Lastly, identity impairment and affect dysregulation fully mediated the relationship between child maltreatment and current suicidality. Theoretical implications are discussed as well as directions for future research. / Dissertation Chair: Donald U. Robertson, Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Members: Lynda M. Federoff, Ph.D., John A. Mills, Ph.D., ABPP

Maltreatment experienced in childhood or adolescence is a known risk factor for later problem alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) use (Bailey & McCloskey, 2005; Shin, Edwards, Heeren, 2009). A growing body of empirical work has found significant associations between adolescent girls’ AOD use and maltreatment experiences. However, questions remain as to how this relation unfolds with African-American and Hispanic adolescent girls. Guided by four relational models that have been proposed in the literature, this study examined the links between maltreatment, trauma symptoms, and alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) problems in a sample of 170 African-American and Hispanic adolescent girls who were participants in a school-based AOD use intervention. Results of this study revealed that maltreatment experiences (physical and emotional abuse) were positively related to trauma symptoms, which were positively related to AOD problem severity, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependency, drug abuse, and drug dependency. Perceived discrimination moderated this relation between sexual abuse and trauma symptoms, such that more perceived discrimination resulted in a stronger effect of sexual abuse on trauma symptoms. Ethnic identity moderated the relation between sexual abuse and AOD problem severity, such that ethnic identity demonstrated protective properties in the relation between sexual abuse and AOD problem severity. My research adds to extant knowledge on the relation between maltreatment and AOD use in adolescent girls and suggests the importance of developing interventions targeting maltreatment and AOD use concurrently.

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The purpose of the current study was to understand the lived experiences and perspectives of high-functioning survivors of moderate or severe childhood maltreatment (CM) as related to the role of athletic participation in the development of their resilience. We emailed and screened Division I student-athletes from universities across the U. S. who did not meet criteria for a traumatic stress disorder. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach and constant comparison methodology, we obtained and analyzed interview data from 13 participants. The pathways through which participation in childhood athletics supported their coping include receiving social support from coaches and teammates, being present and engaged in their athletic participation, feeling relatively safe in their athletic environment, and spending time away from the main perpetrators of the CM. After applying concepts from existing literature to our data, we developed hypotheses to explain the processes by which participation in youth sport fosters resilience. For example, sport participation may provide opportunities for corrective emotional experiences that help young athletes heal. In addition, based on self-determination theory, maltreated elite athletes may benefit from sport participation because it meets their three basic needs (i.e., autonomy, mastery, and relatedness). We conclude this study with suggested implications for researchers and clinicians, as well as recommendations related to the training and education of coaches in terms of CM.

Child maltreatment impacts approximately one in seven children in the United States, leading to many adverse outcomes throughout life. Adolescence is a time period that is critical for the development of self-regulation, as it is when the prefrontal cortex is actively developing. Existing research demonstrates the numerous adverse effects maltreatment may have on self-regulation, which encompasses executive function and emotion regulation abilities. However, there is little research examining how abuse and neglect may differently affect the developmental trajectories of executive function and emotion regulation throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. In the current study, 167 adolescents participated approximately annually at six time points, from ages 14 to 20. At each of the six time points, adolescents completed three executive function tasks as well as self-report questionnaires on their emotion regulation abilities and strategies. Information on maltreatment experienced from ages 1 to 13 was collected when the adolescents were approximately 18 to 20 years of age. Conditional growth curve models were utilized to test the differential effects of abuse and neglect on the growth trajectories of executive function abilities and emotion regulation difficulties and strategy use. The results revealed that neglect was associated with developmental changes in working memory abilities, such that greater amounts of neglect were associated with slower increases in working memory abilities across ages 14 to 20. Further, abuse was associated with developmental changes in difficulties in emotion regulation abilities, such that greater amounts of abuse were associated with larger increases in difficulties in emotion regulation abilities from ages 14 to 20. Finally, neglect was associated with the initial level (at age 14) of difficulties in emotion regulation abilities, such that greater levels of neglect were associated with higher initial levels of difficulties in emotion regulation abilities as compared to individuals with lesser amounts of experienced neglect. These findings suggest that working memory development during adolescence into young adulthood may be more vulnerable to childhood neglect and that both abuse and neglect in childhood may have adverse impacts on the development of emotion regulation abilities. / M.S. / Child maltreatment impacts approximately one in seven children in the United States, leading to many adverse outcomes throughout life. Adolescence is a time period that is critical for the development of self-regulation, which encompasses executive function and emotion regulation abilities. Existing research demonstrates the numerous adverse effects maltreatment may have on self-regulation. However, there is little research examining how abuse and neglect may differently affect the developmental trajectories of executive function and emotion regulation throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. In the current study, 167 adolescents participated approximately annually at six time points, from ages 14 to 20. At each of the six time points, adolescents completed three executive function tasks as well as self-report questionnaires on their emotion regulation abilities and strategies. Information on maltreatment experienced from ages 1 to 13 was collected when the adolescents were approximately 18 to 20 years of age. The results revealed that greater amounts of neglect were associated with slower increases in working memory abilities across ages 14 to 20. Further, greater amounts of abuse were associated with larger increases in difficulties in emotion regulation abilities from ages 14 to 20. Finally, neglect was associated with difficulties in emotion regulation abilities at age 14, such that greater levels of neglect were associated with higher levels of difficulties in emotion regulation abilities at age 14 compared to individuals with lesser amounts of experienced neglect. These findings suggest that working memory development during adolescence into young adulthood may be more vulnerable to childhood neglect and that both abuse and neglect in childhood may have adverse impacts on the development of emotion regulation abilities.

The purpose of the current study was to further explore the relations between parent trauma, parenting behavior, child trauma, and child adjustment. The sample included 358 children (191 boys and 167 girls) and their primary caregiver (48 fathers and 310 mothers). The children's ages ranged from 10 to 17 with an average age of 13. Parent trauma was not found to be related to child trauma through parenting behaviors. Child trauma was found to mediate the relations between parenting and child adjustment. There was some evidence of parenting mediating the relation between parent trauma and child adjustment. This research underscores the importance of understanding the risk and protective factors associated with parent trauma and its influences on child trauma and adjustment as well as the importance of good parenting as a protective factor. Further, this study supports past research which highlights those pathways which lead to resilience. / Master of Science

Each year over half a million children are victims of childhood maltreatment. While a plethora of interdisciplinary research has evaluated the detrimental outcomes of these experiences, few studies have analyzed the effects contextual components of child abuse and neglect can have on the life-course of maltreated youth. Juvenile delinquency has been identified as a prominent outcome of maltreatment, however, a lesser portion of the empirical literature has focused on outcomes among more serious justice-involved juveniles. This study analyzed the effects of childhood maltreatment severity on the recidivism outcomes of 853 blended-sentenced juveniles in a large southern state. Previous studies demonstrated worsened outcomes associated with more severe maltreatment, thus higher recidivism rates were expected for more severely maltreated juveniles. The results indicated only sexual abuse severity impacted recidivism rates, and the direction of the relationship was negative. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.