Casanueva Cecilia, Dozier Mary, Tueller Stephen, Dolan Melissa, Smith Keith, Webb Mary Bruce, Westbrook T'pring, Harden Brenda Jones
RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, P.O. Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194, USA.
Amy E. du Pont Chair of Child Development, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware Newark, 114 Wolf Hall, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2014 Mar;38(3):498-509. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.07.016. Epub 2013 Aug 29.
This study describes the extent of caregiver instability (defined as a new placement for 1 week or longer in a different household and/or with a new caregiver) in a nationally representative sample of infants, followed for 5-7 years. Data were drawn from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), a longitudinal study of 5,501 children investigated for child maltreatment. The analysis sample was restricted to 1,196 infants. Overall, 85.6% of children who were infants at the time of the index maltreatment experienced at least one caregiver instability event during their first 2 years of life. Caregiver instability was associated with the child having a chronic health condition and the caregiver being older than 40 years of age at baseline. The levels of instability reported in this study from infancy to school entry are extremely high. Children with more risk factors were significantly more likely to experience caregiver instability than children with fewer risk factors. The repeated loss of a young child's primary caregiver or unavailable, neglectful care can be experienced as traumatic. Some evidence-based programs that are designed to work with young maltreated children can make a substantial positive difference in the lives of vulnerable infants.
本研究描述了在一项对婴儿进行全国代表性抽样、随访5至7年的研究中，照料者不稳定的程度（定义为在不同家庭和/或与新照料者相处1周或更长时间的新安置情况）。数据取自全国儿童和青少年福利调查（NSCAW），这是一项对5501名因遭受虐待而接受调查的儿童进行的纵向研究。分析样本限于1196名婴儿。总体而言，在初次遭受虐待时为婴儿的儿童中，85.6%在其生命的头两年经历了至少一次照料者不稳定事件。照料者不稳定与儿童患有慢性健康状况以及照料者在基线时年龄超过40岁有关。本研究报告的从婴儿期到入学前的不稳定程度极高。与风险因素较少的儿童相比，具有更多风险因素的儿童经历照料者不稳定的可能性显著更高。幼儿主要照料者的反复缺失或无法获得、疏忽的照料可能会给儿童带来创伤。一些旨在帮助受虐待幼儿的循证项目能够对弱势婴儿的生活产生重大积极影响。
