Child Maltreatment and Adolescents' Exposure to Disorder in Daily Activity Spaces.

Minimal research has explored how child maltreatment shapes adolescents' exposure to risky environments within youth activity spaces (the places youth visit during their daily routine) which likely influences youth well-being. This study examined the extent to which child maltreatment and neighborhood disorder, individually and collectively, are associated with adolescents' exposure to physical and social disorder in their activity spaces. Participants were 1215 adolescents (47% boys, M = 14.

Childcare Subsidies and Reduced Intimate Partner Violence Victimization: An Unintended Benefit.

Mothers in low-income households face an increased risk for intimate partner violence (IPV). The high costs of raising young children can create household conflict that makes violence more likely to occur. Furthermore, a lack of formal childcare can force women out of the workforce, rendering them financially dependent on partners.

The protective role of school connectedness in the relationship between child maltreatment and internalizing symptoms for White, Black, Latino/Hispanic, and multiracial youth.

Background: Child maltreatment is a public health concern associated with increased youth internalizing symptoms. School connectedness has been shown to play a protective role in the relationship between child maltreatment and externalizing symptoms; yet, its protective role on internalizing symptoms for youth in different racial/ethnic subgroups remains underexplored.

Objective: This study aimed to examine whether school connectedness buffers the effect of child maltreatment on internalizing symptoms for White, Black, Latino/Hispanic, and multiracial youth.

Exposure to neighborhood violence, self-efficacy, and child maltreatment.

Background: Child maltreatment is a significant public health concern in the United States, with long-lasting consequences for children's development. Exposure to community violence is a known risk factor for child maltreatment, yet the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Self-efficacy, a construct reflecting an individual's perceived ability to influence their environment, may play a critical mediating role in this pathway.

Childcare subsidy receipt and reduced emotional neglect: Examining parents' enhanced self-efficacy as a mediator.

Background: Each year 1.5 million children receive childcare subsidized under the Child Care and Development Fund, which supports working parents with low income in affording childcare; such policies hold promise for reducing child neglect.

Objective: The current study sought to examine how receiving childcare subsidies might reduce emotional neglect by supporting working parents' self-efficacy.

Longitudinal Impacts of Housing Cost Burden on Physical and Psychological Aggression of Children From Age 3 to 15.

Housing cost burden is stressful for families, interfering with healthy, positive parenting. The present study uses data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the relationship between housing cost burden and aggressive parenting with children age 3 to age 15. Latent growth curve modeling finds that both types of aggressive parenting behaviors decline on average, but that housing cost burden contributes to significant ongoing risk.

Childhood Maltreatment and Longitudinal Epigenetic Aging: NIMHD Social Epigenomics Program.

Importance: Child physical and emotional abuse and neglect may affect epigenetic signatures of accelerated aging several years after the exposure.

Objective: To examine the longitudinal outcomes of early-childhood and midchildhood exposures to maltreatment on later childhood and adolescent profiles of epigenetic accelerated aging.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cohort study used data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (enrolled 1998-2000), a US birth cohort study with available DNA methylation (DNAm) data at ages 9 and 15 years (assayed between 2017 and 2020) and phenotypic data at birth (wave 1), and ages 3 (wave 3), 5 (wave 4), 9 (wave 5), and 15 (wave 6) years.

The remote work of child protection professionals during COVID-19: A scoping review and thematic analysis.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges and barriers for the work of child protection professionals (CPPs) and intensified existing hardships for families and children, increasing the risk of child maltreatment. As new restrictions and precautions were implemented by governments worldwide to stop the virus from spreading, CPPs had to adapt to a new reality of working remotely. However, limited research has investigated how remote work impacted CPPs and child protection work and how CPPs handled this alternative work style.

What was missed in child protection responses during COVID-19? Perceptions of professionals from various countries.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic increased the likelihood of child maltreatment and made already difficult circumstances for children and their families much worse. This increased the significance of the child protection system's role in responding to child maltreatment and ensuring children's rights, including their right to a safe life without violence. Unfortunately, accumulating evidence has indicated that the rates of child maltreatment increased during the pandemic.

Experiences and responses of child protection professionals during COVID-19: Lessons learned from professionals around the globe.

Background: COVID-19 significantly worsened already challenging circumstances for children and their families and globally increased the likelihood of child maltreatment. This risk heightened the urgency of child protection professionals in preventing child maltreatment and defending children's rights. The vast and growing body of research on protecting children from child maltreatment during COVID-19 has emphasized practitioners' tremendous difficulty in this arena.

Examining resilience among child protection professionals during COVID-19: A global comparison across 57 countries.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to numerous challenges for child protection professionals (CPPs). However, limited research has investigated the interwoven concepts of coping, resilience, and mental distress among CPPs during COVID-19 on a global scale.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore CPPs' practice, resilience, and mental distress during COVID-19, the relationship between their resilience and mental distress, the global stability of the Multi-System Model of Resilience (MSMR), and how CPPs' resilience varied according to the Human Development Index (HDI).

Child protective services and out-of-home Care for Children during COVID-19: A scoping review and thematic analysis.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic challenged child protection and posed new risks for child maltreatment (CM). Moreover, governmental efforts worldwide prioritized mitigating the spread of the virus over ensuring the welfare and protection of families and children. This neglect caused hardship for many vulnerable children, including those in out-of-home care (OOHC), and challenged the functionality of child protective services (CPS).

Association between longitudinal patterns of child maltreatment experiences and adolescent substance use.

Background: Although there is a well-established link between child maltreatment and adolescent substance use, it remains unclear if and how longitudinal patterns of maltreatment experiences are associated with substance use in adolescence.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine how distinct patterns of longitudinal maltreatment experiences are associated with adolescent substance use.

Participants And Setting: The participants were 899 adolescents from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN).

Childcare Subsidy Employment and Copayment Requirements and Child Maltreatment.

Economic support programs for low-income families may play an important role in preventing child abuse and neglect. In the United States, childcare subsidies are provided to low-income families who meet certain requirements to offset the high cost of childcare. States have flexibility in setting many policies related to the provision of childcare subsidies, which results in a great deal of variation in how the programs operate between states.

Material hardship in the postpartum year: Links to child maltreatment.

Background: Millions of mothers with young children in the U.S. struggle to afford basic needs.

Our Commitment to Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Child Maltreatment.

In this commentary, the editorial team of extends and expands on APSAC's position on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, affirms our commitment and plans for addressing these issues in this publication, and highlights articles in this issue that continue the discussion about race and racism in the child welfare and child protection systems.

The global impact of COVID-19 on child protection professionals: A scoping review and thematic analysis.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered new risks for child maltreatment (CM) and exacerbated existing challenges for families and children, elevating the importance of child protection professionals (CPPs) while also adding barriers to their work. During the pandemic, many CPPs experienced increased workloads, a disrupted work environment, and personal pandemic-related hardships. However, the scope of how COVID-19 impacted CPPs globally, as well as their adopted coping strategies, have not been well explored.

Neighborhoods and child abuse: Multiple informant perspectives.

Introduction: Using data from the nationally representative longitudinal Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the current study sought to examine associations between neighborhood disorder and physical characteristics of the neighborhood at child age three with the likelihood of experiencing physical and psychological abuse and neglect at age five.

Methods: Negative binomial regression and zero inflated negative binomial regression models were used to estimate the associations.

Results: Resident perceptions of neighborhood disorder and outside observation of neighborhood physical characteristics were both found to be independently related to the likelihood of physical assault.

The moderating role of neighborhood social cohesion on the relationship between early mother-child attachment security and adolescent social skills: Brief report.

Background: Social skill is a critical asset for adolescents, and early mother-child attachment is an essential contributor to their development. While less secure mother-child attachment is a known risk factor for adolescent social development, the protective factor of neighborhood context in buffering this risk is still not well understood.

Research Design: This study used longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( = 1,876).

Contextual factors of child behavioral health across developmental stages.

This study examines the relative influence of environmental contexts (family, school, neighborhood) on child behavioral health at ages 3, 5, 9, and 15 years. Path analysis was conducted on a sample of 4,898 urban children from a longitudinal dataset called the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Child physical abuse, emotional abuse, maternal depression, substance use, neighborhood social cohesion, neighborhood poverty, school connectedness, and peer bullying had concurrent relationships with child behavior problems at one or more developmental stages.

Childcare Subsidy Enrollment Income Generosity and Child Maltreatment.

In the United States, childcare subsidies are available to low-income working parents to assist with the cost of childcare. The subsidies are provided as block grants to states, which allows for a great deal of flexibility in the specific policies guiding their distribution. Prior research has found a protective link between childcare subsidies and child maltreatment, but the variations in policies have been much less explored.

Family-, School-, and Neighborhood-Level Predictors of Resilience for Adolescents with a History of Maltreatment.

Child maltreatment is a well-known risk factor that threatens the well-being and positive development of adolescents, yet protective factors can help promote resilience amid adversity. The current study sought to identify factors at the family, school, and neighborhood levels associated with resilience outcomes including positive functioning and social skills, among adolescents who have experienced maltreatment. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, the analytic sample was limited to 1729 adolescents who experienced maltreatment before age 9.

Implementation and Mental Health Outcomes of a Service Cascade Linking Child Welfare and Children's Mental Health Systems: A Case Study of the Gateway CALL Demonstration.

The mental health needs of children and youth involved in the child welfare system remain largely unmet. Service cascades are an emerging approach to systematizing mental health screening, assessment, and treatment referral processes. However, evidence is minimal and inconsistent regarding the effectiveness of such approaches for improving mental health service access and outcomes.