Louise S. Éthier

Childhood adversity, parental stress, and depression of negligent mothers

The objective of this study was to identify major childhood events that were experienced by negligent mothers matched with non-negligent mothers as well as to define the existing link between those events, depression of the mother and parental stress. The sample was composed of 80 French-speaking Canadian families. The measures used were the Parental Stress Index (Abidin, 1983), the Psycho-Social Interview (Ethier et al., 1989) and the Beck Depression Inventory (1961). The results have shown an extreme level of parental stress and a high level a depression for negligent mothers. The negligent mothers had a history of placements, violence and sexual abuse, but they did not differ from control mothers for parental breakups and nonavailability. We have also shown a significant link between childhood events, depression, and parental stress even more so for the control group than for the negligence group. The results are discussed in the perspective of attachment theory.

The role of trauma symptoms in the development of behavioral problems in maltreated preschoolers

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the mediating role of trauma symptoms in the relation between child maltreatment and behavioral problems. It is based on the postulate that child maltreatment is a severe form of chronic relational trauma that has damaging consequences on the development of childrens behavioral regulation. METHOD Participants were 34 maltreated and 64 non-maltreated children (mean age=60 months; range: 46 to 72 months), all from economically disadvantaged families. Maltreated children were recruited from the Child Protection Agencies. Behavioral problems and trauma symptoms were evaluated by the preschool teacher with the Internalizing and the Externalizing scales of the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form (CBCL-TRF) and the posttraumatic stress score of the Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Young Children respectively (TSCYC). RESULTS Baron and Kennys mediational procedure was conducted using structural equation modeling. Mediational analyses revealed that trauma symptoms fully mediated the association between maltreatment and both internalizing and externalizing behaviors. CONCLUSIONS Results were consistent with the literature on developmental trauma research and provide empirical support to the idea that trauma-related symptoms resulting from early maltreatment may constitute a mechanism in the development of psychosocial problems in preschoolers. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS These findings underline the importance of understanding psychosocial maladjustment of maltreated children not only from the perspective of problematic behavior, but also by taking into account the traumatic reactions that might develop in response to chronic and intense stress associated with abuse and neglect.

Risk Factors Associated with the Chronicity of High Potential for Child Abuse and Neglect

The present 4-year follow-up study involves 56 mothers who were evaluated by social agencies as being abusive and neglectful or at high risk for child abuse and neglect. The aim of the study is to analyze the relationship between psychosocial risk factors (relating to the history and current situation of the mothers) that were present at the time the families were initially recruited and the fact that some of the mothers continue to show a high potential for child abuse and neglect (chronic abuse and neglect), whereas others were able to overcome the problem (transitory abuse and neglect). Results indicate that the following variables are particularly associated with situations involving chronic problems of abuse and neglect: initial level of severity of potential for abuse and neglect; dual-parent status; a large number of children at the time of intervention (3.13 times more risk of chronicity for large families); the fact that as a child the mother herself had been placed in a foster home (3.7 times more risk); that she had been sexually abused (3.5 times more risk); and that as an adolescent she had run away from home (3.02 times more risk). Our results indicate that mothers who have a combination of more than eight risk factors are four times more likely to be in the chronic group.

Validity of CBCL-derived PTSD and dissociation scales: further evidence in a sample of neglected children and adolescents.

There is growing evidence that child neglect is an important risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociation. Considering that the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) is a widely used measure, the possibility of using validated CBCL-derived trauma symptoms scales could be particularly useful to better understand how trauma symptoms develop among neglected children and adolescents. This study examined the factor structure of three CBCL-derived measures of PTSD and dissociation (namely, PTSD scale, Dissociation scale, and PTSD/Dissociation scale) in a sample of 239 neglected children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years using the latest version of CBCL (CBCL 6-18). Evidence of convergent validity of these scales was also examined for participants aged 12 and under using two well-validated measures of PTSD and Dissociation: the Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Young Children and the Child Dissociation Checklist. Findings suggest that CBCL-derived measures of trauma symptoms, especially PTSD and Dissociations scales, may be of heuristic value in the study of trauma symptomatology in neglected samples. Factor structure and evidence of convergent validity were supported for these two scales. Results also provide further support to the well-established assumption that PTSD and dissociation are two related but different constructs.