Miller Laura E, Howell Kathryn H, Graham-Bermann Sandra A
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2014 Jun;29(9):1535-53. doi: 10.1177/0886260513511533. Epub 2013 Dec 24.
The presence of threat and self-blame in children exposed to violence in the home has been linked to a number of negative behavioral and emotional consequences across developmental periods. Little research, however, has examined self-reported attributions of threat and self-blame in children under the age of 6. The current study evaluated the developmental trajectories of appraisals of threat and self-blame in preschool-aged children recently exposed to intimate partner violence. It was hypothesized that (a) children's appraisals of threat and self-blame would naturally decrease over time and (b) there would be a main effect of child sex on appraisals of self-blame but not threat, such that girls would report higher levels of self-blame than boys. Participants included 68 preschool-aged children (ages 4-6) who were interviewed at two time points over the course of 1 year. Multilevel modeling was employed to examine the effects of violence exposure, child age, and child sex over time. Children's attributions of threat were stable over the course of 1 year, but greater child age was related to lower appraisals of threat. Children's appraisals of self-blame increased over time, and there was a trend for girls to report more self-blame than did boys. It appears that without intervention, young children may be at risk of developing relatively stable maladaptive cognitive patterns, thereby heightening their risk of subsequent developmental psychopathology. Furthermore, girls may need additional intervention targeted at addressing attributions of self-blame.
在家中遭受暴力的儿童身上存在的威胁感和自责感，与不同发育阶段的一系列负面行为和情绪后果有关。然而，很少有研究考察6岁以下儿童自我报告的威胁感和自责感归因。本研究评估了近期遭受亲密伴侣暴力的学龄前儿童对威胁和自责的评估的发展轨迹。研究假设如下：（a）儿童对威胁和自责的评估会随着时间自然下降；（b）儿童性别对自责评估有主效应，但对威胁评估没有主效应，即女孩报告的自责水平会高于男孩。研究参与者包括68名学龄前儿童（4至6岁），他们在1年的时间里接受了两次访谈。采用多层次模型来考察暴力暴露、儿童年龄和儿童性别随时间的影响。儿童对威胁的归因在1年的时间里保持稳定，但年龄越大的儿童对威胁的评估越低。儿童对自责的评估随时间增加，而且女孩报告的自责比男孩更多，这存在一种趋势。看来，如果不进行干预，幼儿可能有发展出相对稳定的适应不良认知模式的风险，从而增加他们随后出现发展性精神病理学问题的风险。此外，女孩可能需要针对解决自责归因的额外干预。
