News stories from metropolitan daily newspapers were compared with child maltreatment reports made to mandated agencies on a local and national basis over 25 years. Results suggested that both child maltreatment reports and news coverage increased over the period surveyed. Media reports increased simultaneously with, rather than prior to,…

This study assessed children's original perceptions of sexual abuse risk, perceptions of risk after participation in a sexual abuse prevention program, and age differences in children's beliefs about risk. Findings indicate that children's already high perceptions of sexual abuse risk increased after participation in the prevention program.…

Narrative features of the life stories of child abuse survivors (n=23) and nonvictimized college student respondents (n=23) were compared. Narratives of survivors differed from the comparison group in both relative emphasis on the past versus present/future and on others rather than self. An emphasis on others by child abuse survivors emerged as…

Sixty-five sexually abused children (ages 5-17) were administered the Children's Depression Inventory. Results indicated that older victims were more likely to describe themselves as being depressed and to report suicidal ideation, and those older victims with less compliant mothers were more likely to have scores above the 90th percentile.…

This study compared Greek individuals (n=287) identified as engaging in delinquent behavior who had either been maltreated in childhood or not maltreated. Perceived parental abuse and/or psychological neglect were associated with various family and social characteristics as well as specific Greek societal and cultural factors. (Author/DB)

Data on child physical/sexual abuse, family stress histories, perceived parental warmth, and current psychological functioning were gathered from 259 working women. Multiple regression analyses showed that parental warmth strongly influenced or mediated the relationship of intrafamilial child abuse to depression and self-esteem levels. However,…

A 14-month-old was well-treated by his family until 6.5 months old, when his young mother was traumatized, and the child became neglected and physically abused. Explosive destructive behavior not seen in him before was then observed, supporting the hypothesis that the abused become abusers due to excessive unpleasure, which mobilizes their…

A proportion of abusive families are resistive to treatment and reabuse their children (various studies cite rates of 16 to 60 per cent). Factors associated with poor treatment outcome include persistent denial of abuse, lack of empathy, use of severe types of abuse, and previous violent acts. (Author/JDD)

Educators' roles in identification of abused/neglected children, subsequent reporting, and techniques for interviewing suspected abused children are discussed. Educators' expanded role in abuse prevention, involving such activities as offering courses in parenting, child safety/protection, and human sexuality, is examined, followed by a…

A two-year study of 239 families comprising both substance-abusing and nonsubstance-abusing parents found parental substance abuse greatly increased the likelihood of poorer family functioning and re-reports for maltreatment to the child protection services. The findings support the need for including parental substance abuse in risk assessment…

Long-term follow-up of 167 child and adolescent victims of abuse found that most subjects suffered from more than 1 kind of abuse or neglect. A combination of physical neglect, physical abuse, and verbal abuse had the greatest impact on children, affecting such things as their enjoyment of living and hopes for the future. (Author/DB)

A modified multiple-probe design was used to teach seven students (ages six to eight) with moderate or severe mental retardation appropriate strategies for responding to inappropriate invitations from strangers. Six of the students displayed improvement in self-protective skills, which generalized to a nontraining situation and across abductors.…

The Psychological Maltreatment Rating Scales (PMRS) were developed for assessing psychological maltreatment in the mother-child interaction, and were used to rate the videotaped interaction of 49 high-risk mother-child dyads and predict child protective service involvements. The PMRS was found to be a moderately reliable and valid measure.…

Comparison of maltreated (N=195) and non-maltreated (N=179) children found the maltreated children had significantly lower academic achievement scores but did not differ on perceived academic competence. Maltreated children were more likely to overestimate their level of competence, particularly for reading and arithmetic. Also, children with low…

This report details demographic factors associated with 119 cases of physical child abuse occurring in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Findings address severity of abuse, age factors, perpetrator characteristics, family social class, family problems, psychological disorders, and substance abuse. (DB)