2-188 - Early Childhood Child Maltreatment, Risk Factors, and Effects on Children’s Health

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Although links between child maltreatment during early childhood and long-term health issues are established (Norman et al., 2012), less is known about links to physical and mental health issues prior to adolescence. Research investigating maltreatment-related health behaviors as well as associations between its risk factors and children’s health prior to adolescence can inform interventions that prevent the development of diseases and disorders. This symposium will bring together four papers examining child maltreatment during early childhood, its risk factors, and links to health among majority-minority racial populations. Paper 1 compares the effects of physical discipline and physical child maltreatment on internalizing symptoms during middle childhood and adolescence. Discipline and maltreatment were linked to anxiety and depressive symptoms during middle childhood. Paper 2 investigates associations between parent and child maltreatment exposure and emotion regulation difficulties and in turn, whether those difficulties are associated with obesity-related health behaviors. Emotion regulation mediated the association between maltreatment exposure and certain health behaviors such as poor diet. Paper 3 examines the sleep patterns of Child Protective Services-referred children and associations with externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Children with higher total sleep during infancy exhibited fewer externalizing behavior problems. Lastly, Paper 4 explores the parenting practices of mothers participating in a physical abuse preventive intervention. Mothers who had experienced corporal punishment and physical child maltreatment chose positive parenting over corporal punishment based on empathy and knowledge of harm. The findings from these papers have implications for future research as well as health and maltreatment preventive interventions.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Judith Scott, Boston University

Individual Presentations

• The Effects of Physical Maltreatment and Physical Discipline on Internalizing Symptoms Among Young African-American Children - Presenting Author: Judith Scott, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Ellen Pinderhughes, Tufts University; Non-Presenting Author: Sara K Johnson, Tufts University

• Parent and Child Maltreatment Exposure, Emotion Regulation, and Obesity-Related Health Behavior in Young Children - Presenting Author: Lindsay Huffhines, University of Kansas; Non-Presenting Author: Yo Jackson, Pennsylvania State University

• Sleep Trajectories in Child Protective Services-Referred Children and Links to Externalizing Symptoms - Presenting Author: Lindsay Zajac, University of Delaware; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah Prendergast, Colorado State University; Non-Presenting Author: Kenneth Feder, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Kuhns, University of Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: Bridget Cho, University of Kansas; Non-Presenting Author: Mary Dozier, University of Delaware

• Breaking the mold: Socio-ecologic factors to reduce risk for child physical abuse - Presenting Author: Julia M Fleckman, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine A Taylor, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Non-Presenting Author: Heather L Storer, Tulane University School of Social Work; Non-Presenting Author: Katherine Andrinopoulos, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Non-Presenting Author: Lindsey E.G. Weil, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Non-Presenting Author: Lily Rubin-Miller, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; Non-Presenting Author: Katherine Theall, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine