Chang Yujeong, Chang Olivia D, Stanek Charis J, Yoon Susan, Maguire-Jack Kathryn
College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2025 May;163:107399. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107399. Epub 2025 Mar 11.
Child maltreatment is a public health concern associated with increased youth internalizing symptoms. School connectedness has been shown to play a protective role in the relationship between child maltreatment and externalizing symptoms; yet, its protective role on internalizing symptoms for youth in different racial/ethnic subgroups remains underexplored.
This study aimed to examine whether school connectedness buffers the effect of child maltreatment on internalizing symptoms for White, Black, Latino/Hispanic, and multiracial youth.
Data were drawn from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal birth cohort study in 20 US cities, comprising 3021 youth with maltreatment experiences.
Ordinary least squares regression models were conducted separately for racial/ethnic subgroups to examine the interaction effect between child maltreatment subtypes and school connectedness on internalizing symptoms (i.e., youth-reported depression/anxiety, caregiver-reported internalizing symptoms) for White, Black, Latino/Hispanic, and multiracial youth.
School connectedness was generally associated with lower levels of youth internalizing symptoms for all racial/ethnic groups. Interaction effects suggested that, for White youth only, school connectedness moderated the relationship between psychological aggression and caregiver-reported youth internalizing symptoms (B = -1.46, p = .029) and physical assault and youth-reported depressive symptoms (B = -1.04, p = .044).
While school connectedness was linked to lower internalizing symptoms for all youth, its buffering effects against child maltreatment were less evident among minoritized racial/ethnic groups. Continued efforts should prioritize creating supportive school contexts to better serve the needs of racially/ethnically minoritized youth with maltreatment histories.
儿童虐待是一个公共卫生问题，与青少年内化症状的增加有关。学校归属感已被证明在儿童虐待与外化症状之间的关系中起到保护作用；然而，其对不同种族/族裔亚组青少年内化症状的保护作用仍未得到充分研究。
本研究旨在探讨学校归属感是否能缓冲儿童虐待对白人、黑人、拉丁裔/西班牙裔和多种族青少年内化症状的影响。
数据来自家庭与儿童福祉未来研究，这是一项在美国20个城市开展的纵向出生队列研究，包括3021名有虐待经历的青少年。
对种族/族裔亚组分别进行普通最小二乘回归模型分析，以检验儿童虐待亚型与学校归属感对白人、黑人、拉丁裔/西班牙裔和多种族青少年内化症状（即青少年自我报告的抑郁/焦虑、照顾者报告的内化症状）的交互作用。
对于所有种族/族裔群体，学校归属感通常与青少年较低水平的内化症状相关。交互作用表明，仅对白种青少年而言，学校归属感调节了心理攻击与照顾者报告的青少年内化症状之间的关系（B = -1.46，p = 0.029）以及身体攻击与青少年自我报告的抑郁症状之间的关系（B = -1.04，p = 0.044）。
虽然学校归属感与所有青少年较低的内化症状相关，但其对儿童虐待的缓冲作用在少数族裔种族/族裔群体中不太明显。应持续努力，优先营造支持性的学校环境，以更好地满足有虐待史的种族/族裔少数青少年的需求。
