University of Southern California, School of Social Work, Los Angeles, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2011 Oct;35(10):876-86. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.08.001. Epub 2011 Oct 20.
Based on the data obtained through Child Protective Services (CPS) case records abstraction, this study aimed to explore patterns of overlapping types of child maltreatment in a sample of urban, ethnically diverse male and female youth (n= 303) identified as maltreated by a large public child welfare agency.
A cluster analysis was conducted on data for 303 maltreated youth. The overall categorization of four types of abuse (i.e., physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect) was used to provide a starting point for clustering of the 303 cases and then the subtypes of emotional abuse were broken down in the clusters. The different clusters of child maltreatment were compared on the multiple outcomes such as mental health, behavior problems, self-perception, and cognitive development.
In this study, we identified four clusters of child maltreatment experiences. Three patterns involved emotional abuse. One cluster of children experienced all four types. Different clusters were differentially associated with multiple outcome measures. In general, multiply-maltreated youth fared worst, especially when the cluster involved sexual abuse. Also, sex differences were found in these associations. Boys who experienced multiple types of maltreatment showed more difficulties than girls.
These results reiterate the importance of creating more complex models of child maltreatment. Children who have experienced various types of maltreatment are especially in need of more attention from professionals and resources should be allocated accordingly.
本研究基于儿童保护服务（CPS）案例记录摘要获得的数据，旨在探索在一个被大型公共儿童福利机构认定为受虐待的城市、种族多样的男性和女性青年（n=303）样本中，重叠类型的儿童虐待模式。
对 303 名受虐待青年的数据进行聚类分析。整体分类为四种虐待类型（即身体、性、情感虐待和忽视），为聚类 303 例提供了起点，然后在聚类中细分情感虐待的亚型。将不同类型的儿童虐待在心理健康、行为问题、自我认知和认知发展等多个结果上进行比较。
在本研究中，我们确定了儿童虐待经历的四个聚类。三种模式涉及情感虐待。一类儿童经历了所有四种类型。不同的聚类与多种结果测量指标存在差异关联。一般来说，受多种虐待的儿童表现最差，尤其是当聚类涉及性虐待时。此外，这些关联还存在性别差异。经历多种类型虐待的男孩比女孩表现出更多的困难。
这些结果重申了创建更复杂的儿童虐待模型的重要性。经历过各种类型虐待的儿童尤其需要专业人员的更多关注，应相应分配资源。
