Department of Biomedical Data Science, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Dartmouth College, 1 Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA; Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Dole Human Development Building, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
Clinical Child Psychology Program, University of Kansas, Dole Human Development Building, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2017 May;67:98-108. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.020.
Child maltreatment is a major public health concern due to its impact on developmental trajectories and consequences across mental and physical health outcomes. Operationalization of child maltreatment has been complicated, as research has used simple dichotomous counts to identification of latent class profiles. This study examines a latent measurement model assessed within foster youth inclusive of indicators of maltreatment chronicity and severity across four maltreatment types: physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and neglect. Participants were 500 foster youth with a mean age of 12.99 years (SD=2.95years). Youth completed survey questions through a confidential audio computer-assisted self-interview program. A two-factor model with latent constructs of chronicity and severity of maltreatment revealed excellent fit across fit indices; however, the latent constructs were correlated 0.972. A one-factor model also demonstrated excellent model fit to the data (χ (16, n=500)=28.087, p=0.031, RMSEA (0.012-0.062)=0.039, TLI=0.990, CFI=0.994, SRMR=0.025) with a nonsignificant chi-square difference test comparing the one- and two-factor models. Invariance tests across age, gender, and placement type also were conducted with recommendations provided. Results suggest a single-factor latent model of maltreatment severity and chronicity can be attained. Thus, the maltreatment experiences reported by foster youth, though varied and complex, were captured in a model that may prove useful in later predictions of outcome behaviors. Appropriate identification of both the chronicity and severity of maltreatment inclusive of the range of maltreatment types remains a high priority for future research.
儿童虐待是一个主要的公共卫生问题，因为它对发展轨迹和身心健康结果产生影响。由于研究使用简单的二分计数来识别潜在的类别特征，因此儿童虐待的操作化变得复杂。本研究在包括四种虐待类型（身体、性、心理虐待和忽视）的寄养青年中评估了一个潜在的测量模型，这些类型的虐待存在持续性和严重程度的指标。参与者是 500 名寄养青年，平均年龄为 12.99 岁（SD=2.95 岁）。青年通过一个机密的音频计算机辅助自我访谈程序完成了调查问题。一个具有慢性和严重虐待潜在结构的两因素模型显示出在拟合指标上的优异拟合度；然而，潜在结构的相关性为 0.972。一个单因素模型也表现出对数据的优异模型拟合（χ（16，n=500）=28.087，p=0.031，RMSEA（0.012-0.062）=0.039，TLI=0.990，CFI=0.994，SRMR=0.025），单因素和两因素模型的差异测试具有非显著性。还进行了跨年龄、性别和安置类型的不变性测试，并提供了建议。结果表明，可以获得一个单一因素的潜在虐待严重程度和持续性模型。因此，寄养青年报告的虐待经历虽然多样且复杂，但在一个模型中得到了捕捉，该模型可能在以后对结果行为的预测中证明有用。适当识别包括各种虐待类型的虐待的持续性和严重程度仍然是未来研究的一个高度优先事项。
