Poster #90 - Symptoms of Psychopathology, Behavior Problems and Child-Caretaker Relationship Quality Among Children Placed in Residential Care

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Child maltreatment may lead to a variety of symptoms of psychopathology such as post-traumatic (Milot & al., 2010) and dissociative symptoms (Hulette, Freyd & al., 2008; Macfie, Cicchetti & Toth, 2001), as well as with more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems (Kim & Cicchetti, 2010). Children in residential care often have had severe, chronic, and multiple forms of maltreatment experiences (Cyr et al., 2012) and many of them present externalizing and internalizing problems. Children placed in residential care often have a designated professional caretaker that serves as their primary caregiver (Keable, 2013). Yet, few studies have examined several months after their admission to care, whether externalizing and internalizing problems are associated with symptoms of psychopathology, taken into consideration the quality of the child-caretaker relationship. A higher quality child-educator relationship may be a protective factor against behavioral problems. Thus, the current study examined the moderating role of the child-caretaker relationship quality between children’s psychopathology symptoms and their internalizing and externalizing problems. The sample consisted of 76 children (72.4% boys; Mage = 9.70, SD=1.48) placed in residential care for at least 6 months and their primary substitute caretaker, recruited from group homes and youth centers in the greater Montreal area of the province of Quebec. Three questionnaires were completed by the caretaker: 1) the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach, 2001); 2) the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children (Briere, 1999); and 3) the Child Dissociative Checklist (Putnam et al., 1993). Children and their caretakers’ quality of relationship was observed during a conflict resolution discussion task (7 min.) using the observational tool, SORCE (Cyr-Desautels et al., 2020), which yields a global score on a 5-point likert scale (1=poor quality to 5=good quality). The inter-rater reliability for this scale was found to be excellent (α = 0.78). Two regression models were conducted. A first significant regression (F(3,75)=7.31, p< .001, 20% of the variance) indicated that higher dissociation (b=0.45, t= 3.76, p<.001) and lower relationship quality (b=-0.25, t= -2.43, p=.02) were significantly associated with internalizing behavior. A second regression (F(3,75)=10.96, p< .001, 29% of the variance) revealed that higher dissociation (b=0.44, t= 3.90, p<.001) and lower relationship quality (b=-0.33, t= -3.34, p=.001) were significantly associated with externalizing problems. Post-traumatic symptoms were not significantly related to internalizing or (b=-0.02, t= -0.14, p=n.s) or externalizing problems (b=0.08, t= 0.69, p=n.s). Finally, relationship quality was not a moderator in neither of these two regressions. Results show that a child-caretaker relationship of better quality is related to lower behavior problems. Still, after at least six months of residential care, dissociation symptoms and behaviors problems are related and having a better relationship does not protect those with higher symptoms of dissociation from showing higher behavior problems. Given the paucity of research on these questions, further research is needed to better target protective factors for children placed in residential care.

Authors

• Elke Hearson, L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
  Presenting Author

• Gabrielle Myre, L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

• Hélène Demers, L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

• Laurence Cyr-Desautels, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

• Karine Dubois-Comtois, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)

• Martine Hebert, Université du Québec à Montréal

• Chantal Cyr, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)