Schatz Julie N, Smith Leann E, Borkowski John G, Whitman Thomas L, Keogh Deb A
Center for Children and Families, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46635, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2008 Oct;32(10):972-82. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2008.09.001.
The present project examined the relationships among early maternal maltreatment risk, children's self-regulation, and later development. It was expected that early maltreatment risk would impact children's emerging self-regulation which in turn, would foster pre-academic delays and behavioral problems.
The project used structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between early maltreatment risk in 169 primiparous adolescent mothers and the subsequent development of their children in pre-academic and behavioral domains at 5 years of age. Maltreatment risk was assessed by two evaluation tools: (1) a multi-measure index of parenting attitudes, abuse potential, and knowledge and expectations about child development, and (2) an abbreviated version of the multi-measure index consisting of only 12 items. In addition, cognitive and emotional regulation at age 3, as assessed by maternal reports of regulatory behaviors and a newly created observational measure, was evaluated as a potential mediator of development at 5.
Findings revealed that maternal maltreatment risk was associated with lower levels of children's regulation, which in turn significantly predicted pre-academic skills and behavior problems. Incorporating direct paths from maltreatment risk to each of the children's outcomes did not significantly improve model fit indices.
Results suggest that self-regulation was a key process variable in the relationship between maltreatment risk and children's development. The findings support targeting self-regulatory abilities to halt the progression of developmental difficulties often found in maltreated children.
The present study identified self-regulation as a mechanism for transmitting the effects of maltreatment risk to multiple domains of children's functioning; these findings have important implications for intervention programs. Intervention programs that focus on fostering self-regulation in home and preschool settings should enhance developmental outcomes. Previous research has shown the utility of targeting self-regulation in reducing the frequency and intensity of students' anger (Beck, R., & Fernandez, E. (1998). Cognitive-behavioral self-regulation of the frequency, duration, and intensity of anger. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 20, 217-229.). Within the context of maltreatment intervention, these programs have considerable utility. By tailoring programs to strengthen dysfunctional regulation processes common to maltreated children, cognitive and behavioral functioning should be enhanced.
本项目研究了早期母亲虐待风险、儿童自我调节和后期发展之间的关系。预计早期虐待风险会影响儿童正在形成的自我调节，而这反过来又会导致学前准备延迟和行为问题。
该项目使用结构方程模型来研究169名初产青少年母亲的早期虐待风险与她们孩子在5岁时学前和行为领域后续发展之间的关系。虐待风险通过两种评估工具进行评估：（1）一个关于育儿态度、虐待可能性以及对儿童发展的知识和期望的多维度指标，以及（2）一个仅由12个项目组成的多维度指标的简化版本。此外，通过母亲对调节行为的报告和新创建的观察测量方法评估的3岁时的认知和情绪调节，被评估为5岁时发展的潜在中介因素。
研究结果表明，母亲虐待风险与儿童较低水平的调节相关，而这反过来又显著预测了学前技能和行为问题。纳入从虐待风险到每个儿童结果的直接路径并没有显著改善模型拟合指数。
结果表明，自我调节是虐待风险与儿童发展关系中的一个关键过程变量。这些发现支持以自我调节能力为目标，以阻止在受虐待儿童中经常发现的发展困难的进展。
本研究确定自我调节是将虐待风险的影响传递到儿童功能多个领域的一种机制；这些发现对干预项目具有重要意义。专注于在家庭和学前环境中培养自我调节的干预项目应该会改善发展结果。先前的研究表明，以自我调节为目标在减少学生愤怒的频率和强度方面具有效用（贝克，R.，& 费尔南德斯，E.（1998）。愤怒频率、持续时间和强度的认知行为自我调节。《精神病理学与行为评估杂志》，20，217 - 229）。在虐待干预的背景下，这些项目具有相当大的效用。通过调整项目以加强受虐待儿童常见的功能失调的调节过程，认知和行为功能应该会得到增强。
