Developmental Trajectories And Factors Of Child Maltreatment And Relations With Behavior Problems

Child maltreatment has been a universal family education problems and worldwide public health issues,which may be a hot topic in the international child protective field.Child maltreatment includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill treatment,sexual abuse,neglect,negligence and commercial or other exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child's health,survival,development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility,trust or power.Although a growing body of researches has conducted these decades,the study of child maltreatment under Chinese cultural context still has some limitations.From the perspective of research orientation,most studies have used the variable-centered approach to explore the relationships between child maltreatment and other variables;few studies have used the individual-centered approach to examine the individual differences and the changes over time.From the perspective of research design,most studies have used cross-sectional study to explore child maltreatment;few studies have applied the longitudinal study to delineate the characteristics of child maltreatment over time.From the perspective of research objectives,most studies have explored child maltreatment based on adolescents or college students;few studies have paid attention to preschoolers.The current study aims to explore the trajectories and factors of child maltreatment and relations with behavior problems based Chinese early childhood children with combination perspectives of individual-center and variable-center,and the current study uses longitudinal study design to collect data.The current study with 4 sub-studies used individual-centered approach and longitudinal study design to explore the developmental trajectories and dynamic factors ofchild maltreatment,and examine the relationship between child maltreatment and behavior problems,as well as the mechanisms of this relation.Study 1,2,and 3 recruited 521 children aged 3 to 7 years and their families for the one-year long study.These three sub-studies aimed to delineate the characteristics and developmental trajectories of child maltreatment,to explore the dynamic factors for the developmental trajectories of child maltreatment,and to examine the relationship between child maltreatment and behavior problems,respectively.All of these three sub-studies used parent-reported approach to collect the data by completing basic information questionnaire,ICAST-P-C,Child Behavior Checklist,depression questionnaire,and anxiety scale.Study 4 explored the mechanism of child maltreatment and behavior problems based on 93 children aged 3 to 7years.Parents were asked to report child maltreatment and child behavior problems,and hair cortisol concentrations were applied in the current study with professional people collecting and analyzing the hair samples.Latent growth model,mixture growth model,and cross-lagged panel model were applied in the current study,all of these were analyzed using software of SPSS,M-plus and R.Results of the present study were presented below:Study 1: Characteristics and developmental trajectories of child maltreatment:1.The prevalence of moderate physical abuse,severe physical abuse,emotional abuse,neglect,and child maltreatment were 27.4%,3.1%,39.2%,20.7% and 24.0%,respectively.There were similarities and differences in static risk factors of child maltreatment and its subtypes,and child gender,child age,parents' childhood trauma,and family income may be influence child maltreatment and its subtypes.2.The developmental trajectories of child maltreatment and subtypes of child maltreatment were heterogeneous.The developmental trajectories of child maltreatment and its subtypes had two subgroups,one was the non-abused group,the other was the abused group.Meanwhile,the developmental trajectories of child maltreatment and moderate physical abuse in abused subgroup were decreased first,and then increased by time;the developmental trajectories of emotional abuse in abused subgroup were increased by time;the developmental trajectories of neglect in abused subgroup were decreased bytime.These findings suggest that developmental trajectories of child maltreatment and its subtypes under Chinese culture may be different from Western cultures,which may be caused by child perspectives and beliefs about rearing child,as well as strategies.Moreover,static risk factors of child maltreatment and its subtypes may be similar cross cultures.In addition,developmental trajectories of emotional abuse were increased by time,and developmental trajectories of neglect were decreased by time,which may suggest that the developmental trajectories have linear trend;developmental trajectories of child maltreatment and moderate physical abuse were decreased first,then increased by time,which may suggest that the developmental trajectories have dynamical nonlinear trend.Study 2: Dynamic factors for developmental trajectories of child maltreatment:1.Child's gender,number of children in the family,parents' education levels,parents' experiences of childhood trauma,and family income influenced on the developmental trajectories of child maltreatment and subtypes of child maltreatment.And these influences were based on different age groups.Developmental trajectories of child maltreatment included two subgroups,and the classification of subgroups was influenced by parents' education levels and age groups;parents' education levels,number of children in the family,parents' experiences of childhood trauma had influenced on the latent variables within abused subgroup.And family income became significantly affected the classification of subgroups when added the time-varying variables into the models,while the influence of parents' education levels became non-significantly;number of children in the family influenced the latent variables within non-abused subgroup,while parents' experiences of childhood trauma influenced the latent variables within abused subgroup.2.Developmental trajectories of moderate physical abuse included two subgroups,and the classification of subgroups was influenced by child gender and age groups;child gender,parents' education levels,number of children in the family,parents' experiences of childhood trauma had influenced on the latent variables within moderate physically abused subgroup.And the influence of child gender became non significantly when added thetime-varying variables into the models;parents' education levels influenced the latent variables within non-abused subgroup,while child gender,number of children,and family income influenced the latent variables within abused subgroup.3.Developmental trajectories of emotional abuse included two subgroups,and the classification of subgroups was influenced by child gender,number of children in the family,family income,and age groups;parents' education levels,and parents' experiences of childhood trauma had influenced on the latent variables within emotionally abused subgroup.And the influence of child gender,number of children in the family,and family income became non-significantly when added the time-varying variables into the models;child gender,and parents' experiences of childhood trauma influenced the latent variables within non emotionally abused subgroup,while parents' education and experiences of childhood trauma influenced the latent variables within emotionally abused subgroup.4.Child gender,number of children in the family,family income,parents' education levels,and parents' experiences of childhood trauma did not influence the developmental trajectories of neglect,while the parents' mental health affected neglect of the same time.These findings suggest that there are similarities and differences in dynamic risk factors of child maltreatment,and risk factors for the classification of subgroups are influenced by subtypes of child maltreatment and time.Moreover,the relationship between parents' childhood trauma and child maltreatment may give a possible explanation for intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment.Study 3: The relationship between child maltreatment and behavior problems:1.The relationship between child maltreatment and behavior problems was a dynamical interaction process,child maltreatment did not predict behavior problems,and behavior problems did not predict child maltreatment,but gender moderated these relationships.Specifically,behavior problems predicted child maltreatment among boys,while these relations did not exist among girls.Meanwhile,child maltreatment did not predict internalizing problems,and internalizing problems did not predict child maltreatment.Moreover,child maltreatment positively predicted proximal externalizingproblems,and gender moderated this relation.In addition,child maltreatment negatively predicted distal externalizing problems,and gender moderated this relation.2.The relationship between moderate physical abuse and behavior problems was a dynamical interaction process,moderate physical abuse did not predict behavior problems,and behavior problems did not predict moderate physical abuse,but gender moderated these relationships.Meanwhile,moderate physical abuse predicted internalizing problems,and internalizing problems predicted moderate physical abuse,and gender moderated these relations.Specially,moderate physical abuse positively predicted internalizing problems among boys,while internalizing problems positively predicted moderate physical abuse.In addition,moderate physical abuse did not predict externalizing problems,and externalizing problems did not predict moderate physical abuse.3.The relationship between severe physical abuse and behavior problems was a dynamical interaction process,severe physical abuse did not predict behavior problems,and behavior problems did not predict severe physical abuse,but gender moderated these relationships.Specifically,behavior problems predicted severe physical abuse among boys,while these relations did not exist among girls.Meanwhile,severe physical abuse did not predict internalizing problems,and internalizing problems did not predict severe physical abuse,and gender moderated these relations.Specifically,internalizing problems predicted severe physical abuse among boys,while these relations did not exist among girls.In addition,the relationships between severe physical abuse and externalizing problems did not verify.4.The relationship between emotional abuse and behavior problems was a dynamical interaction process,emotional abuse did not predict behavior problems,and behavior problems did not predict emotional abuse,but gender moderated these relationships.Meanwhile,emotional abuse did not predict internalizing problems,and internalizing problems did not predict emotional abuse,and gender moderated these relations.In addition,emotional abuse did not predict externalizing problems,and externalizing problems did not predict emotional abuse,but gender moderated these relations.Specifically,emotional abuse predicted externalizing problems among boys,while these relations did not exist among girls.5.The relationship between neglect and behavior problems was a dynamical interaction process,neglect predict distal behavior problems,while behavior problems did not predict neglect,and gender moderated these relationships.Specifically,neglect predicted behavior problems boys,while these relations did not exist among girls.Meanwhile,neglect did not predict internalizing problems,and internalizing problems did not predict neglect,but gender moderated these relations.In addition,neglect predicted externalizing problems,externalizing problems did not predict neglect,and gender moderated this relation.These findings suggest that the relationships between all kinds of child maltreatment and behavior problems may have equifinality and multifinality.Specifically,although different kinds of child maltreatment may reflect different disorganized behaviors or patterns between parent-child relations,they may contribute to the same influence on child development;meanwhile,although the same kind of child maltreatment may reflect the same disorganized behaviors or patterns between parent-child relations,they may have different effect on child development.Study 4: The mechanism links child maltreatment to behavior problems: The role of hair cortisol concentrations.1.Subtypes of child maltreatment affected the relationships between child maltreatment and behavior problems.Individuals with child maltreatment,moderate physical abuse,and emotional abuse reported low levels of cortisol than individuals without maltreatment.Individuals with neglect reported high levels of cortisol than individuals without neglect.2.The relationships between child maltreatment,behavior problems,and cortisol were influenced by subtypes of child maltreatment,and kinds of behavior problems.Individuals with child maltreatment did not predict cortisol concentrations,and cortisol concentrations did not predict child maltreatment;while behavior problems negativelypredicted cortisol concentrations,and cortisol concentrations negatively predicted behavior problems.Meanwhile,internalizing problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations,cortisol concentrations negatively predicted internalizing problems;externalizing problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations,cortisol concentrations negatively predicted externalizing problems.Cortisol concentrations did not mediate the relationships between child maltreatment and behavior problems.3.Individuals with moderate physical abuse did not predict cortisol concentrations,and cortisol concentrations did not predict moderate physical abuse;while behavior problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations.Meanwhile,internalizing problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations;externalizing problems negatively predicted distal cortisol concentrations.Cortisol concentrations did not mediate the relationships between moderate physical abuse and behavior problems.4.Individuals with emotional abuse did not predict cortisol concentrations,and cortisol concentrations did not predict moderate physical abuse;while behavior problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations,and cortisol concentrations negatively predicted behavior problems.Meanwhile,internalizing problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations;externalizing problems negatively predicted distal cortisol concentrations.Cortisol concentrations did not mediate the relationships between emotional abuse and behavior problems.5.Individuals with neglect did not predict cortisol concentrations,but cortisol concentrations positively predict neglect;while behavior problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations,externalizing problems negatively predicted cortisol concentrations.Cortisol concentrations did not mediate the relationships between neglect and behavior problems.These findings suggest that child maltreatment,moderate physical abuse,and emotional abuse may blunt the functions of stress responses systems;while neglect may alter the functions of stress responses systems.Meanwhile,the change of cortisol concentrations may have an alarm effect on all kinds of child maltreatment,but this alarmeffect should be explored further.A series finding of the current study suggest that child maltreatment in the sample are not rare,and the developmental trajectories of child maltreatment are heterogeneous,complexity,and flexible,and dynamical risk factors of all kinds of child maltreatment are similarities and differently.Moreover,the relations between child maltreatment and behavior problems may be an interaction process,and cortisol may have alarm effect on child maltreatment,but the potential mechanisms and models are still need to be further explored.These finding may give some implications about preventing or intervening child maltreatment or protecting children under Chinese cultural context.1.child maltreatment is not rare among 3-7 years old children,and the preventing or intervening work should be acted as early as possible;meanwhile,we should focus on different subtypes of child maltreatment,and offer different projects to protect children.2.We should take consider much more variables when you do some acts to protect children.We should not only take consider the characteristics of children,for insistence,child gender,but also take consider the characteristics of the family,such as parents' education levels,family income,and parents' experiences of childhood trauma.Meanwhile,we should pay much attention to high risk samples,and construct the action model among family,community,and pathology organization.3.Child maltreatment may be influenced by life events,we should pay attention to the important life events,and give the parents and children stable social support in the unstable or new environment.4.Child maltreatment not only a comprehension problem among family,sociality,and education,but also a dynamical and developmental pathology problems.And we also pay attention to the combinations of stress responses systems,immune systems,and mental health systems.5.We should construct a cross-longitudinal,and multi-dimensions' networks to protect and help children.