The purpose of this dissertation study was to evaluate a child abuse prevention program for families considered at-risk for abuse. Specifically, this study sought to gain a better understanding of how program participation was associated with parenting behavior and child maltreatment risk, and if this relation was partially mediated by social support and parental empowerment. The sample consisted of 187 parents and grandparents who attended Circle of Parents groups throughout a southeastern state. It was hypothesized that (a) higher program participation would predict improvements in parenting behavior, lower levels of maltreatment risk, higher levels of social support within and outside the group, and higher feelings of parental empowerment; (b) higher levels of social support within and outside the group, as well as higher levels of parental empowerment, would predict improvements in parenting behavior and lower child maltreatment risk; (c) the relation between program participation and parenting behavior, as well as child maltreatment risk would be mediated by social support and parental empowerment. Results revealed that program participation significantly predicted improvements in parent behavior and social support within the group. In addition, social support within the group significantly predicted improvements in parent behavior. Social support outside the group also significantly predicted levels of lower child maltreatment risk. There was no support for mediation effects. Considerations for interpreting results, limitations, directions for future research, and implications for practice are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-03312010-230520 |
| Date | 04 May 2010 |
| Creators | Hart, Kendrea C. |
| Contributors | Dr. Katherine Klein, Dr. Pamela Martin, Dr. Roger Mitchell, Dr. Mary Haskett |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-03312010-230520/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dis sertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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