Mother-child communication about sexual abuse prevention

Two hundred and twelve Australian mothers completed an online survey examining features of mother-child communication about child sexual abuse prevention. Two-thirds (67.5%) of respondents had discussed child sexual abuse prevention with their children. Proportions of mothers talking with their children about child sexual abuse prevention varied according to age range (highest for mothers with children aged 5-12 years) and only child status (lowest for mothers of only children). The number of topics discussed with their children differed according to child gender (greater number of topics discussed by mothers with both girls and boys) and age range (greater number of topics discussed by mothers with children aged 5-12 years). These findings provide new insights into mother-child communication about child sexual abuse prevention.

Relationships between maternal feeding and child weight in younger Australian children – Findings from the NOURISH obesity prevention trial

Studies show that in 3-11 year-olds, parental feeding style is directly associated with child weight [1] and also moderates the association between feeding practices and weight [2]. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine these relationships in younger children. Data from 331 of 698 first-time mothers of healthy term children (151 boys, mean age 24±1 months) enrolled in the NOURISH RCT included (a) measured child weight, (b) self-reported feeding styles and controlling feeding practices, and (c) maternal and child covariates. ANCOVA compared mean child weight-for-age z-score (cWAZ) across 4 feeding styles. Regression examined the associations between cWAZ and 5 controlling feeding practices. Moderated multiple regression analysis was planned to examine effects of feeding style on relationships between feeding practices and cWAZ. Feeding style (indulgent = 38.6%, authoritarian = 35.8%, authoritative = 13.1%, uninvolved = 12.5%) was not independently associated with cWAZ. However, ’pressure to eat’ was negatively associated with cWAZ (�=-0.131, p<0.05) higher pressure associated with lower cWAZ. Given feeding style was not associated with cWAZ, moderation analysis was not performed. Contrary to findings in older children, cWAZ in 2-year-olds was not associated with maternal feeding style. However, the negative association between child weight and pressure feeding found in 6-11year-olds [2] appears to hold in toddlers. Educating mothers about potentially detrimental long-term effects of pressure feeding in early childhood, may be more practical and effective in promoting healthy weight than targeting the less concrete concept of feeding styles. References: [1] Hughes, Appetite, 2005;44:83-92. [2] Hennessy, Appetite, 2010;54:369-377.

Victims Speak: Comparing Child Sexual Abusers and Their Victims Accounts of Offence Circumstances

This article presents findings from a longitudinal study. The research aimed to explore the effectiveness of a treatment program for offenders which lasted for three years. The research design was structured around the program with interviews and psychometric testing undertaken at key points in time with the same group of respondents. View all notes that sought to evaluate a treatment program for child sexual abusers. A triangulated methodological approach was adopted drawing upon quantitative and qualitative methodological techniques. The focus here is upon one element of this research. 2 2The quantitative element of this research will be published shortly but is referred to in the following reports Davidson 2000, 2003 [research funded by the National Probation Service]. Psychometric testing was undertaken over a four-year period with the men attending the treatment program to explore shifts in the extent of denial, blame attribution, and victim empathy over time. Offender cognitive distortions, general health, and self-esteem were also explored via psychometric testing. An interview-administered survey was undertaken with all sex offenders registered with the Probation Service (those on probation and in custody) in order to gather demographic data, and 117 of 150 offenders responded. View all notes Ninety-one in-depth interviews were conducted over a four-year period with a small, nonrandom sample of twenty-one male offenders who had been convicted of sexual offenses against children. All of the men were subject to probation orders with a psychiatric condition (Criminal Justice Act, 1991). One of the aims of this element of the research was to explore the extent to which evidence of denial could be found in offenders’ accounts of offense circumstance and also to explore the extent to which offenders minimized the nature and extent of abuse perpetrated. Offenders’ accounts of offense circumstances were compared to victim statements, and stark differences emerge. These findings have considerable implications for treatment practice with sex offenders, where victims’ perceptions could be used to directly confront offender denial and minimization.

Child Victims of Sexual Abuse: Children's Experience of the Investigative Process in the Criminal Justice System

This paper is a selected review of research on issues surrounding the investigation of intra-familial child sexual abuse for children aged eight and above, in the criminal justice system. Particular attention is paid to features of the investigative interview in relation to the child's level of understanding, ability to report and likely emotional response when the proceedings take place. Best practice by police and social care agencies involves establishing valid and reliable information from children while attending to their developmental level and emotional state. The review aims to distil principles optimising this process from both the investigative judicial perspective and the child's focus, as well as from the inter-agency perspective and information sharing. Recommendations are made for improving the interview process based on research and methods from a range of disciplines and to optimise information recording in a format easily shared between agencies. Updated and ongoing training procedures are key to successful practice with training shared across police and social work agencies. The focus of this review is informed by preliminary findings from pilot research in progress on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Child Abuse Investigation Command.

Internet Child Abuse: Current Research, Policy and Practice

Internet Child Abuse: Current Research and Policy provides a timely overview of international policy, legislation and offender management and treatment practice in the area of Internet child abuse. Internet use has grown considerably over the last five years, and information technology now forms a core part of the formal education system in many countries. There is however, increasing evidence that the Internet is used by some adults to access children and young people in order to ‘groom’ them for the purposes of sexual abuse; as well as to produce and distribute indecent illegal images of children. This book presents and assesses the most recent and current research on internet child abuse, addressing: its nature, the behaviour and treatment of its perpetrators, international policy, legislation and protection, and policing. It will be required reading for an international audience of academics, researchers, policy-makers and criminal justice practitioners with interests in this area.

Characteristics of the Internet for Criminal Child Sexual Abuse by Online Groomers

This paper presents a number of characteristics of the Internet that makes it attractive to online groomers. Relevant Internet characteristics include disconnected personal communication, mediating technology, universality, network externalities, distribution channel, time moderator, low‐cost standard, electronic double, electronic double manipulation, information asymmetry, infinite virtual capacity, independence in time and space, cyberspace, and dynamic social network. Potential sex offenders join virtual communities, where they meet other persons who have the same interest. A virtual community provides an online meeting place where people with similar interests can communicate and find useful information. Communication between members may be via email, bulletin boards, online chat, web‐based conferencing or other computer‐based media.

Rethinking Youth Prostitution: National Provision at the Margins of Child Protection and Youth Justice

In March 2000, the Department of Health and the Home Office issued guidance fundamentally altering policy and practice with regard to young people in prostitution. 1 Instead of being arrested and punished for prostitution-related offences, those under 18 years old were to be thought of as children ‘in need’ and offered welfare-based interventions. The practice that has developed in the last three years has offered interventions that are located within both child protection and youth justice work. This article examines these changes in order to generate insights about the changing nature of youth justice. In particular, it is argued that the drive to manage the risks posed by young people in prostitution to specific organisations, takes precedence over either the desire to care for, or the demand to punish them. Through an analysis of how practitioners and policy makers responsible for implementing this new approach to youth prostitution talk about ‘risk’ and ‘responsibility’, ‘liability’, ‘protection’ and ‘punishment’, the article argues that the contradiction between care and control has been re-interpreted, such that there is noticeable blurring of the boundaries between welfare and punishment at the margins of youth justice work.

Child characteristics associated with delay of gratification in children with Down syndrome

Aim: Children with Down syndrome have been identified as having difficulty delaying gratification when compared to mental age matched children who are developing typically. This study investigated the association between individual characteristics hypopthesized to be associated with ability to delay as well as the strategies children used in a waiting task. Method: Thirty-two children with Down syndrome and 50 typically developing children matched for mental age completed the tasks. Observations of their behaviour while waiting were video-recorded for later analysis. In addition, parents completed questionnaires with respect to their child’s personality and behaviour. Results: Children with Down syndrome were significantly less able to delay gratification than the comparison group. Different patterns of association were found for the two groups between the observational and questionnaire measures and delay time. Conclusions: Children with Down syndrome have greater difficulty delaying gratification than would be predicted on the basis of their mental age. The contributions to delay appear to differ from those for typically developing children and these differences need to be considered when planning interventions for developing this skill

Contributors to life satisfaction in parents of an adult child with Down syndrome

Aim: This study investigated: (1) concurrent relationships between measures of family life and parental satisfaction with life in parents of an adult with Down syndrome and (2) influence of early family functioning on current parental satisfaction. Method: Sixty-two families were interviewed using a semi-structured interview, and responded to a series of questionnaires related to family functioning when their child with Down syndrome was between 7 and 15 years. Fifteen years later parents were asked to provide data on their current situation, including mental health, and satisfaction and difficulties with respect to care-giving in relation to their adult child. Results: Over half the families provided data to the second phase of the study. Life circumstances were appreciably worse for a small group of families than had been the case 15 years previously; however, these changes were generally unrelated to their parenting role. Overall, parents reported experiencing satisfaction from their care-giving role and did not report high levels of difficulties emanating from this role. Conclusions: Most parents demonstrated good levels of personal functioning, although there was a small group for whom this was not the case. Earlier functioning did not make a strong contribution to current levels of life satisfaction.

Understanding teachers' reporting of child sexual abuse : measurement methods matter

The present study considered factors influencing teachers' reporting of child sexual abuse (CSA). Conducted in three Australian jurisdictions with different reporting laws and policies, the study focused on teachers' actual past and anticipated future reporting of CSA. A sample of 470 teachers within randomly selected rural and urban schools was surveyed, to identify training and experience; knowledge of reporting legislation and policy; attitudes; and reporting practices. Factors influencing actual past reporting and anticipated future reporting were identified using logistic regression modelling. This is the first study to simultaneously examine the effect of important influences in reporting practice using both retrospective and prospective approaches across jurisdictions with different reporting laws. Teachers who have actually reported CSA in the past are more likely have higher levels of policy knowledge, and hold more positive attitudes towards reporting CSA along three specific dimensions: commitment to the reporting role; confidence in the system's effective response to their reporting; and they are more likely to be able to override their concerns about the consequences of their reporting. Teachers indicating intention to report hypothetical scenarios are more likely to hold reasonable grounds for suspecting CSA, to recognise that significant harm has been caused to the child, to know that their school policy requires a report, and to be able to override their concerns about the consequences of their reporting.

Bicycle safety for children and young people : an analysis of child deaths in Queensland

Bicycle riding can be a positive experience for children and young people that builds confidence, independence and promotes healthy recreation. However, these benefits are dependent upon safe bicycle riding practices. Between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2011, 12 children and young people under the age of 18 years died in bicycle incidents in Queensland. An additional 1736 bicycle-related injuries requiring emergency department attendance are estimated to have occurred between 2008 and 2009 in Queensland for children and young people under the age of 18 years. Of the twelve bicycle-related deaths between 2004 and 2011 in Queensland, two children were aged between 5-9 years, 5 young people were 10-14 years of age and 5 young people were between 15-17 years. The two children aged 5-9 years were riding their bikes for recreation. Children aged 10-14 years were most likely to have been killed in an incident while riding to school in the morning, with teenagers aged 15-17 years most likely to be killed in incidents occurring after school and in the evening. Bicycle riders are vulnerable road users, particularly children and young people. This is due to several factors that can be grouped into: 1) developmental characteristics such as body size and proportions, perceptional and attentional issues, road safety awareness and risk taking behaviours, and 2) environmental factors such as supervision and shared road use with vehicles. This paper examines safety issues for children and young people who have died in bicycle-related incidents in Queensland, and outlines areas of focus for injury prevention practitioners.

Maternal correlates of maternal child feeding practices : a systematic review

Establishing healthy eating habits early in life is one important strategy to combat childhood obesity. Given that early maternal child feeding practices have been linked to child food intake and weight, identifying the maternal correlates of maternal child feeding practices is important in order to understand the determinants of childhood obesity; this was the overall aim of the current review. Academic databases were searched for studies examining the relationship between maternal child feeding practices and parenting, personal characteristics and psychopathology of mothers with preschoolers. Papers were limited to those published in English, between January 2000 - June 2012. Only studies with mothers of normally developing children between the ages of 2 - 6 years were included. There were no restrictions regarding the inclusion of maternal nationality or SES. Seventeen eligible studies were sourced. Information on the aim, sample, measures and findings of these was summarised into tables. The findings of this review support a relationship between maternal controlling parenting, general and eating psychopathology, and socioeconomic status and maternal child feeding practices. The main methodological issues of the studies reviewed included inconsistency in measures of maternal variables across studies and cross-sectional designs. We conclude that the maternal correlates associated with maternal child feeding practices are complex, and the pathways by which maternal correlates impact these feeding practices require further investigation.

Teachers’ detecting and reporting child abuse and neglect : research into the determinants of complex professional behavior

Child abuse and neglect is prevalent and entails significant costs to children, families and society. Teachers are responsible for significant proportions of official notifications to statutory child protection agencies. Hence, their accurate and appropriate reporting is crucial for well-functioning child protection systems. Approximately one-quarter of Australian teachers indicate never detecting a case of child maltreatment across their careers, while a further 13-15% admit to not reporting suspected cases in some circumstances. The detection and reporting of child abuse and neglect are complex decision-making behaviors, influenced by: the nature of the maltreatment itself; the characteristics of the teacher; the school environment; and the broader legislative and policy environment. In this chapter, the authors provide a background to teachers’ involvement in detecting and reporting child abuse and neglect, and an overview of the role of teachers is provided. Results are presented from three Australian studies that examine the unique contributions of: case; teacher; and contextual characteristics to detection and reporting behaviors. The authors conclude by highlighting the key implications for enhancing teacher training in child abuse and neglect, and outline future research directions.