Correlates of child abuse potential among African American and latina mothers: A developmental-ecological perspective

The Impact of Virtual Reality Intervention on Emotion Regulation and Executive Functions in Autistic Children

Introduction: Autistic children may encounter difficulties in managing emotions and executive functions (EFs), which can contribute to mental and health challenges. Recognizing physical activities as a potential strategy for enhancing emotion regulation (ER), this study aims to investigate the efficacy of a virtual reality (VR)-based physical exercise program in improving ER and EFs among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Materials and Methods: Forty boys diagnosed with ASD, aged 7 to 10 years, were randomly assigned to two groups: a VR intervention group (n = 20) and a control group (n = 20). The intervention group participated in a VR program, while the control group solely concentrated on engaging in sedentary and inactive video gaming. EFs were evaluated through the utilization of both the flanker task and the Wisconsin card sorting task, both administered initially at baseline and subsequently after an 8-week interval. In addition, the parents of the children completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist to evaluate their ER skills. Results: According to the results, a significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of EFs and the ability to regulate emotion (P < 0.05). The intervention group demonstrated a notable improvement in ER skills and exhibited superior executive functioning abilities compared with the control group. Conclusion: It appears that VR exercises can serve as a preliminary trial to enhance EFs and ER in children with autism. In addition, they may prove effective as complementary interventions to traditional educational strategies in preventing future challenges associated with ASD.

The Association Between Child Abuse and Aggressive Behavior: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Child abuse is considered to be an essential factor in the development of aggressive behavior. The intensity of the positive relations between child abuse and aggressive behavior differed considerably among researches despite the fact that abundant studies have observed this relation. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach, a three-level meta-analysis was employed to obtain reliable estimates for the sizes of effects and investigate some potential moderators of the relation between child abuse and aggressive behavior. The present study obtained 51 studies (30,566 participants; 680 effect sizes) through performing the detailed literature search. It was found that child abuse was positively associated with aggressive behavior in the current study. In addition, the present meta-analysis observed significant moderating effects for type of child abuse, culture, measurement of child abuse, and publication year in the association between child abuse and aggressive behavior. This study suggests that child abuse is a predictor for the development of aggressive behavior in humans. Moreover, child abuse is an important aspect for consideration in efforts toward strengthening of interventions targeting individuals' aggressive behavior.

Prevalence, increase and predictors of family violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, using modern machine learning approaches

Background

We are facing an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is causing detrimental effects on mental health, including disturbing consequences on child maltreatment and intimate partner violence.

Methods

We sought to identify predictors of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence from 380 participants (mean age 36.67 ± 10.61, 63.2% male; Time 3: June 2020) using modern machine learning analysis (random forest and SHAP values). We predicted that COVID-related factors (such as days in lockdown), parents' psychological distress during the pandemic (anxiety, depression), their personality traits, and their intimate partner relationship will be key contributors to child maltreatment. We also examined if there is an increase in family violence during the pandemic by using an additional cohort at two time points (Time 1: March 2020, N = 434; mean age 35.67 ± 9.85, 41.69% male; and Time 2: April 2020, N = 515; mean age 35.3 ± 9.5, 34.33%).

Results

Feature importance analysis revealed that parents' affective empathy, psychological well-being, outdoor activities with children as well as a reduction in physical fights between partners are strong predictors of a reduced risk of child maltreatment. We also found a significant increase in physical punishment (Time 3: 66.26%) toward children, as well as in physical (Time 3: 36.24%) and verbal fights (Time 3: 41.08%) among partners between different times.

Conclusion

Using modernized predictive algorithms, we present a spectrum of features that can have influential weight on prediction of child maltreatment. Increasing awareness about family violence consequences and promoting parenting programs centered around mental health are imperative.

Parental Social Isolation and Child Maltreatment Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The social isolation and economic stress resulting from pandemic have the potential to exacerbate child abuse and neglect. This study examines the association of parents' perceived social isolation and recent employment loss to risk for child maltreatment (neglect, verbal aggression, and physical punishment) in the early weeks of the pandemic. Participants (N = 283) were adults living in the U.S. who were parents of at least one child 0-12 years of age. Participants completed an online survey approximately 2 weeks after the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic. The survey asked about recent changes (i.e., in the past 2 weeks) to employment status, parenting behaviors, use of discipline, use of spanking, and depressive symptoms. Nearly 20% of parents had hit or spanked their child in the past two weeks alone. Parents' perceived social isolation and recent employment loss were associated with self-report of physical and emotional neglect and verbal aggression against the child, even after controlling for parental depressive symptoms, income, and sociodemographic factors. Parents' perceived social isolation was associated with parental report of changes in discipline, specifically, using discipline and spanking more often in the past 2 weeks. Associations were robust to analyses that included two variables that assessed days spent social distancing and days spent in "lockdown." Study results point to the need for mental health supports to parents and children to ameliorate the strain created by COVID-19.

The Differential Contribution of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Perceived Discrimination on Substance Use among Hispanic Emerging Adults

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are widely documented risk factors for substance use among Hispanic emerging adults. Studies seldom examine whether distinct ACEs differentially relate to substance use in emerging adulthood, and if said association varies in the context of additional stressors disproportionately experienced by Hispanic people. This examination is necessary for understanding the etiology of substance use disorders and related outcomes among Hispanic individuals. Using a sample of Hispanic emerging adults, the goals of this study were two-fold. First, it examined differences in substance use between subgroups of varying ACEs. Second, it assessed whether substance use in the presence of discrimination differed between ACE subgroups. Latent class analysis identified two emerging ACE subgroups: [1] Parental Separation and [2] Physical & Emotional. On average, individuals in the Physical & Emotional subgroup endorsed a higher likelihood of tobacco, cannabis, and illegal drug use than those in the Parental Separation subgroup. For the latter, the likelihood of binge drinking was higher than that of the Physical & Emotional subgroup if they also perceived discrimination in emerging adulthood. These findings highlight the importance of considering the intersection of multiple social determinants of health for understanding the lifetime risk of substance use among Hispanic individuals.

Do emotion regulation difficulties explain the association between executive functions and child physical abuse risk?

This study examined the associations between executive functioning problems, emotion regulation difficulties, and risk for perpetrating child physical abuse (CPA). It was hypothesized that: (a) poor executive functions (i.e., working memory problems and inhibition/switching problems) would be associated with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties and CPA risk; (b) emotion regulation difficulties would be positively associated with CPA risk; and (c) emotion regulation difficulties would partially explain the association between executive functions (i.e., working memory problems and inhibition/switching problems) and CPA risk. To examine these predictions, a sample of 133 general population parents (31% fathers) completed self-report measures of CPA risk, emotion regulation difficulties, working memory problems, and a performance-based measure of inhibition/switching skills. Results revealed that executive functioning problems were linked with emotion regulation difficulties, which in turn were associated with CPA risk. Moreover, emotion regulation difficulties explained the relationship between executive functions (working memory, inhibition/switching) and CPA risk. The final model accounted for 41% of the variance in CPA risk. Although additional research is needed, the present findings suggest that enhancing parents' executive functioning and teaching them effective emotion regulation skills may be important targets for CPA prevention efforts.