Peter M. Vietze

Antecedents of child abuse

The qualities of parents who batter their children have been determined by interviewing known abusers. Because most studies lack controls and because family characteristics may be changed by abuse, a prospective study was instituted. Fourteen hundred low-income mothers were interviewed in a prenatal clinic, and the characteristics of 23 reported for abuse within two years were compared to the characteristics of the remaining mothers. The predominant antecedents of child abuse were: unwanted pregnancy, aggressive tendencies, and aberrant childhood nurture in which disturbed family relationships were more important than outright abuse. Abusive mother had slightly less self-esteem. Factors which increased exposure between parents and children seemed to increase risk for abuse. In contrast to retrospective findings, abusive mothers did not differ in support available from others, age, education, isolation, family alcohol or drug problems, and expectations of child development.

Prediction of child maltreatment during pregnancy.

Abstract Fourteen hundred expectant mothers volunteered to be interviewed about their attitudes, experiences, and knowledge of child rearing. The purpose of the interview was to identify parental predictors of child maltreatment. Based upon answers, 273 were expected to be at high risk for parenting disorders. After delivery, their infants and 225 selected randomly from all remaining mothers were followed in a double-blind fashion for evidence of child abuse, neglect, and nonorganic failure to thrive. All three parenting disorders were found significantly more often in the high-risk families.

Child health and maltreatment.

Children who are abused have been said to have more illnesses than children who are not maltreated. The relationship between abuse and illness has been hypothesized to function in 2 ways: (1) that abuse precedes the illnesses and children from abusive homes become ill because of the damaging environment they endure, or, conversely, (2) that the illnesses precede the abuse, with the fussy behavior of ill children eliciting abuse. This study was intended to clarify the temporal relationship between illnesses and maltreatment. Health data were collected on a sample of 80 children: 11 from abusive families, 31 with nonorganic failure to thrive (NOFT), 14 from neglectful families, and 24 from control families. Hospital records (both inpatient and outpatient) for these children from the time of birth until they were 3 years old were searched by data collectors unaware of the childs classification. Children from abusive families or with NOFT appeared to be ill more often than control children, particularly during the first few months after birth, before abuse had been reported, but not necessarily before NOFT had been discovered. Health records of neglected children were not significantly different from those of controls. In addition to the abused. These 6 children also had more illnesses than control children, again particularly during the first few months after birth. Having ill children is described as a source of stress that may trigger abuse in an already stressed family.

Outcome of abuse during childhood among pregnant low income women

The outcome of experiencing abuse as a child was studied by comparing pregnant women who did recall versus those who did not recall this type of maltreatment. Fourteen hundred low income women were interviewed in prenatal clinic; those who said they were both punished by abuse and beaten by caretakers as children were considered abused. Abuse was recalled by more white than black women but families were followed after delivery and protective service reports of abuse for their offspring were equal. Because of low numbers, black subjects were dropped and the 95 white women who recalled abuse during childhood were compared to the remaining 832 white subjects. The groups did not differ in attitude about current pregnancy, age or marital status, and no differences were found for their children at birth. Abused mothers were more likely to have felt unwanted and unloved as children and to have lower self-images and more isolation than controls. Abused mothers had greater stress, and many of their stresses reflected disturbances in interpersonal relationships. Thus, women abused as children had some characteristics similar to those of known child abusers. Although abused women had more aggressive tendencies, their children were reported to protective services for abuse at the same frequency as control children. Intergenerational transmission of abuse was therefore not demonstrated prospectively. Classic theories of child abuse suggest a special child, special parent and stress act as independent agents to cause abuse. The above data suggest, alternatively, that abuse during childhood may lead to other risk characteristics and to greater stress. These may act together to increase risk for abuse. The special child may have an independent influence on abuse.

POST-FARTUM EXTENDED MATERNAL-INFANT CONTACT: SUBSEQUENT MOTHERING AND CHILD HEALTH

In a double-blind study, 301 low-income primiparous women were randomly assigned to rooming-in (RI) or control (C) post-partum (PP) beds. C mother-Infant dyads (N=158) were together for 20 minutes every 4 hours for feedings during the first 2 PP days; RI dyads (N=143) were together 6 additional hours each day. Duration of data collection from medical and agency records after delivery (12-21 months) is equivalent between the 2 groups, as are the descriptive data. Analysis is based upon 134 RI and 143 C dyads; 9 RI (6%) and 15 C (9.5%) were lost to follow-up.RI and C children did not differ in average age, frequency of outpatient visits, or frequency of well baby or acute illness diagnoses. No RI and 6 C (4%) were seen for either pertussis or the common exanthematous diseases of childhood (p < .0.05). One RI and 9 C (6%) experienced parenting failure (PF) (p<0.05); no RI and 8 C were hospitalized for PF (p < 0.01). No RI and 9 C experienced abuse, neglect, abandonment or nonorganic failure-to-thrive (p < 0.01). One RI and 5 C were referred to social agencies for possible child maltreatment. No RI and 5 C children either died (1) or experienced foster care (p < 0.05).Extended post-partum maternal-infant contact may benefit subsequent mothering and child health.

Social-psychological characteristics of adolescent mothers and behavioral characteristics of their first-born infants

This study examined the child-rearing attitudes perceptions of infant temperament and mother-infant interactional behaviour of primiparous adolescent mothers in comparison to mothers having their first infant post-adolescence as well as the newborn behaviour of the infants born to these women. The total number of mother-infant pairs in the study was 317. Measures were taken of maternal attitudes maternal perceptions of infant temperament and behavioural characteristics of the infant. An observational system was also used. The lack of differences between adolescent and post-adolescent mothers was attributed to the prescence of a comprehensive prenatal care program. (authors)

Information‐Processing Approaches to Early Identification of Mental Retardation

The purpose of this paper is to suggest some directions for developing new behavioral techniques to identify infants at risk for mental retardation. Initially, the history of traditional infant tests will be reviewed and reasons for their lack of success in predicting intellectual performance in later childhood will be suggested. Next, a number of basic psychological procedures, which may be labeled “information-processing procedures,” will be described. These have promise for predicting intellectual performance where the traditional tests have failed and therefore might be used for early identification of mental retardation. Finally, the steps that might be taken to further develop these information-processing methods into a test battery to be used in early identification of mental retardation will be briefly outlined. This final section assumes that early screening is valuable even though we might not have completely effective treatments for “curing” mental retardation detected using these information-processing approaches.

Transactional approach to prediction of child maltreatment

The transactional-developmental approach was applied to a prospective longitudinal study of child maltreatment. Maternal background, infant constitutional, mother-infant interactional and maternal perception of infant temperament measures were entered into a multiple linear regression equation to predict child maltreatment. The results provide support for the transactional perspective in understanding the multiple determinants of early child maltreatment.

Interpersonal distance and vocal behavior in the mother—infant dyad*

To investigate the influence of interpersonal distance on vocal activity in the mother—infant dyad, behaviors of 24 mothers and their three-month-old infants were continuously recorded in the home across four naturally-occurring maternal proximity conditions. Although no difference in infant vocal activity was found between mother-present and mother-absent conditions, infants spent more time vocalizing during maternal absence than while being held. Infant vocalizations when mothers were absent, especially for females, were frequently directed to objects. Vocal activity of infants, but not that of mothers, was differentially affected by the two closest proximity conditions. Infants vocalized significantly more of the time that they were within arms reach of their mothers than while they were being held. The results suggest that proximity is an important contextual factor for the analysis and interpretation of mother—infant interaction data.

Early prediction of child maltreatment

Prediction of child maltreatment has been an elusive goal, partially because little prospective data has been available from which to generate predictive hypotheses, partially because some researchers have tended to adhere to one or another of the models of child maltreatment to the exclusion of the others, and partially because what predictive data do exist have tended to be difficult to obtain or utilize and thus have not been widely adopted. The present study was designed to predict child maltreatment using several measures which were collected prospectively, which represent the generally accepted models of child maltreatment, and which are relatively easy to obtain. Data were used from the prenatal period through the childs fourth month of life to predict maltreatment through the third year of life. Measures included information of the mothers family of origin, her personality, stresses, her view of her babys temperment, her health, and the babys health. These measures accounted for 34% of the var...