Psychological and physical intimate partner violence and young children’s mental health: The role of maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms and parenting behaviors

Young children are at significant risk of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), and vulnerable to exposure-related psychopathology, yet few studies investigate the effects of exposure to IPV on children under the age of 5 years. The current study investigated the role of maternal PTSD symptoms and parenting strategies in the relationship between mothers’ IPV experiences and psychopathology in their young children, ages 3–6 years in a community-based cohort of 308 mother-child dyads at high risk for family violence. Data were collected from 2011 to 2014. IPV history and maternal PTSD symptoms were assessed by self-report questionnaires. Children’s symptoms were assessed with a developmentally-sensitive psychiatric interview administered to mothers. Punitive/restrictive parenting was independently-coded from in-depth interviews with mothers about their disciplinary practices. Hypothesized direct and indirect pathways between physical and psychological IPV, maternal PTSD, maternal parenting style, and children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined with mediation models. Results indicated that neither physical nor psychological IPV experienced by mothers was directly associated with children’s symptoms. However, both types of victimization were associated with maternal PTSD symptoms. Examination of indirect pathways suggested that maternal PTSD symptoms mediated the relationship between mothers’ psychological and physical IPV experiences and children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms and mothers’ restrictive/punitive parenting mediated the relationship between mothers’ psychological IPV and children’s externalizing symptoms. In addition, there was a path from maternal physical IPV to child externalizing symptoms through both maternal PTSD symptoms and restrictive/punitive parenting. Findings highlight the importance of supporting parents in recovering from the sequelae of their own traumatic experiences, as their ensuing mental health symptoms and parenting behaviors may have a significant impact on their children’s emotional health.     

The association between child exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and perpetration of IPV in adulthood—A systematic review

Increasingly recognized as a distinct form of childhood maltreatment, children’s exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) has been shown to be associated with an array of negative psychosocial outcomes, including elevated risk for additional violence over the life course. Although studies have identified child exposure to IPV as a predictor of IPV perpetration in adulthood, no review has critically evaluated the methodology of this quantitative work. The present study examines the association between childhood exposure to IPV and the perpetration of IPV in adulthood based on a systematic review of the literature from inception to January 4, 2016. Databases searched included Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Sociological Abstracts and ERIC. Database searches were complemented with backward and forward citation chaining. Studies were critically appraised using the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. Of 5601 articles identified by the search, 19 studies were included for data extraction. Sixteen of these studies found that child exposure to IPV was significantly and positively associated with adult IPV perpetration; three studies reported null findings. The methodological quality of the studies was low. Work thus far has tended to focus on child exposure to physical IPV and the perpetration of physical IPV within heterosexual contexts. In addition, measures of child exposure to IPV vary in their classification of what exposure entails. We critically discuss the strengths and limitations of the existing evidence and the theoretical frameworks informing this work.     

Witnessing intimate partner violence as a child: How boys and girls model their parents’ behaviors in adolescence

Childhood witnesses of adult violence at home are at risk for future violence. It is unclear how gender of the child and adult perpetrator are related to adolescent relationship violence. We explore how childhood witnessing of same-gender, opposite-gender, and bidirectional violence perpetrated by adults is associated with adolescent relationship violence victimization only, perpetration only, and combined victimization/perpetration for male and female undergraduates. We gathered cross-sectional data from 907 undergraduates attending 67 randomly-selected classes at three distinct East-Coast colleges using pencil-and-paper surveys administered at the end of class time. Multiple imputation with chained equations was used to impute missing data. Multinomial regression models controlling for gender, age, race, school, and community violence predicted adolescent outcomes for each witnessing exposure; relative risk ratios and average adjusted probabilities with 95% confidence intervals are presented. Adolescent relationship violence outcomes vary based on gender of the child witness and adult perpetrator. Witnessing adult males perpetrate is associated with higher perpetration for boys and higher combined victimization/perpetration for girls. Witnessing adult females perpetrate – either as the sole perpetrator or in a mutually violent relationship with an adult male – increases risk for combined victimization/perpetration for boys and girls during adolescence.     

Conceptions of and early childhood educators’ experiences in early childhood professional development programs: A qualitative metasynthesis

ABSTRACT

Policy makers and early childhood stakeholders across the United States continue to seek policy solutions that improve early educators’ instruction of young children. A primary vehicle for attaining this goal is professional development. This has led to an influx of empirical studies that seek to develop a set of best practices for professional development. While this deductive work is important and informative, it provides limited insight into how professional development is being conceptualized, and how teachers experience, respond to, or learn from these programs. This article begins to address these issues by presenting findings from a qualitative metasynthesis of published peer-reviewed qualitative studies of professional development programs for in-service early educators in the United States. By analyzing, synthesizing, and interpreting these studies, it appears that while such programs may have a positive impact on teachers’ conceptions of practice, there is a need to expand the research literature beyond identifying what works so that it includes studies examining teachers using such practices with children and investigations into teachers’ knowledge of their local teaching and learning communities. This study ends by offering an interpretation of the relationship between these findings and the field of teacher education.     

Families’ perceptions of early childhood educators’ fostering conversations and connections by sharing children's learning through pedagogical documentation

ABSTRACT

Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia emphasises that families have an important role in their children's learning and it recognises that their earliest development is influenced through these relationships and adds that partnerships can be fostered with families by early childhood educators sharing the children's documented experiences. The research discussed employed an in-depth structured questionnaire. It involved 37 families with children aged from three to five years who attended an early learning centre in Northern Tasmania, Australia. The aim of this research was to determine these families’ perceptions, beliefs and experiences of educators sharing children's learning through pedagogical documentation. The documentation included hard copy and digital formats of the children's learning, capturing their voices and explorations. The findings show that families consider the sharing of documentation fosters family conversations about the children's learning experiences and helps to create stronger connections between the centre, home and extended family. Another recurring theme from the families’ responses was that children gain pride and a positive sense of identity when their documented work is shared with families.     

Child development knowledge and early childhood teacher preparation: Assessing the relationship—A special collection

An assessment of the field's relationship with its dominant knowledge base is both timely and critical. The early care and education field is defining what it means to be an early childhood professional, demand for early care and education practitioners is soaring, and the demographic context for provision of early care and education programs is shifting. Furthermore, the discipline of child development and its research methodology are increasingly under attack. Such an examination has direct implications for the preparation of early childhood teachers. Yet realities of the early care and education field complicate the profession's capacity to respond. By listening to calls to develop its own paradigm of professionalism, the early care and education profession could elucidate, on its own terms, a more meaningful relationship between child development knowledge and early childhood teacher preparation.     

Reduced psychiatric symptoms at 6 and 12 months’ follow-up of psychotherapeutic and psychoeducative group interventions for children exposed to intimate partner violence

BackgroundLong-term follow-up studies of interventions for children exposed to intimate partner violence are few, and the sustainability of their outcomes often remains unexplored and uncertain. Current research including follow-up assessment suggests that treatment gains may be maintained or continue post termination. In addition some children may show increased levels of symptoms.ObjectiveThe present effectiveness study investigated the long-term outcomes of two established group interventions for children exposed to intimate partner violence and their non-offending parent.Participants and SettingThe study included 50 children, 24 girls and 26 boys, aged 4 to 13 years attending a psychotherapeutic child and adolescent mental health service intervention and a psychoeducative community-based intervention.MethodsBackground information, child and parental mental health problems, trauma symptoms, and exposure to violence were assessed pre- and post treatment and at 6 and 12 months’ follow-up.ResultsSustained treatment gains and late improvements in children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms and in symptoms of traumatic stress were recorded from post treatment to the follow-up assessments (p = .004– .044; d = 0.29–0.67). No significant increase in symptoms was reported. Additionally, very little continued or renewed child exposure to violence was reported.ConclusionsThe results of the study indicate that the children did benefit from the two interventions studied and that the outcomes of reduced child symptoms and protection from exposure to violence were sustainable. Children with severe trauma symptoms benefited the most, though maternal psychological problems may for some have hindered recovery. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Nurturing ‘buds of development’: from outcomes to opportunities in early childhood practice

The current future-focused, outcomes driven early childhood policy climate presents a danger that early years pedagogy will lose sight of the ‘present’ child. Increasingly policy support for early childhood education is built around an emphasis on preparing children for school and positioning it as a key element in enhancing society through preparing future citizens to become productive members of society. The measurable outcomes discourse, in emphasising product, renders invisible the critical contribution of the processes of everyday practice to children’s development. To challenge and counteract the strong outcome discourse early years professionals must have confidence in their pedagogy. However, research suggests that those working in the early years may lack the language and strategies for supporting their educational practice. Using the bio-ecological model of development and drawing on the capabilities approach this paper calls for a shift in policy and pedagogical discourse from measuring competencies towards enhancing capabilities, from assessing outcomes towards providing rich, day-to-day learning opportunities. Such a shift in narrative could weaken the neo-liberal, outcome language of early childhood policy and refocus on supporting an early childhood pedagogy that would explicitly reflect current understanding of what is most beneficial to children’s development and well-being and provide a powerful potential for change.     

Parents’ perception of child behavior,parenting stress,and child abuse potential: Individual and partner influences

Based on the Social Information Processing model of parenting risk for child abuse, the present study examined the associations between mothers’ and fathers’ perception of child behavior and child abuse potential, as well as whether parenting stress mediates the association between these constructs. Two hundred and fifty-nine mother-father couples raising preschool children answered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI). The results of dyadic path analysis showed that perception of child behavior was related to heightened parenting stress and abuse potential in both mothers and fathers. Concerning partner effects, we found that mothers’ perception of child behavior problems was positively associated with fathers’ parenting stress and that the higher the mothers’ distress, the higher the fathers’ risk of physical abuse. Finally, parenting distress partially mediated the association between parents’ perception of child behavior and child abuse potential, with mothers’ perception of their children as problematic showing a significant indirect effect through distress on their own abuse risk and on fathers’ CAP as well. These findings suggest that parental distress may represent a critical mechanism by which parents’ negative views of their children contribute to abuse potential. Moreover, mothers seem to influence fathers’ tendency towards abusive behaviors.     

Physical Activity Related to Depression and Predicted Mortality Risk: Results from the Americans’ Changing Lives Study

This study examined the association between three types of physical activities (PA) and depression, and the relationship between PA and later mortality. Previous studies rarely assessed these associations in one single study in randomly selected population samples. Few studies have assessed these relations by adjusting the covariate of friend-relative care. Participants consisted of 624 noninstitutionalized elders (mean age = 77.35) from the Americans’ Changing Lives Longitudinal Study. Depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Logistic regression estimated the risk of depression as a function of the three individual PA (gardening, walking, and sport). A separate set of analyses predicted the risk of mortality (six years later) as a function of PA.

Each 1-standard-unit increase on the physical inactivity scale significantly predicted adjusted 29%, 30%, and 33% increased risk of depression for gardening, walking, and sport, respectively; and each unit also predicted 48% and 72% increased risk of mortality, for gardening and walking, respectively. Active exercise was not able to predict mortality (p = .42). The study concluded that elders with less PA had a higher chance of getting depression. Unlike gardening and walking, rigorous exercise did not significantly predict mortality. This indicated that extra care is needed for elders when they engage in intense exercise. The relationships of social support from friends and relatives with depression and mortality were also discussed.     

Developing identities in the workplace: students’ experiences of distance early childhood teacher education

In Aotearoa New Zealand, many early childhood teachers gain their teaching qualification via distance study while working in an early childhood centre. Early childhood teachers work in a team environment, and it is important to understand more about how distance students negotiate changes in their workplace practice as their professional knowledge develops. This article draws on a study that explores students’ experiences of distance teacher education as a process of changing participation in the workplace. Distance study supported increasingly confident participation as students saw more meaning in their daily work. The students’ identities and their workplace cultures and practices influenced what students paid attention to and the decisions they made when negotiating changes within their teams. Their experiences suggest that strengthening students’ relational agency at work is a useful focus for distance early childhood teacher education programmes.     

Datafied at four: the role of data in the ‘schoolification’ of early childhood education in England

ABSTRACT

This paper examines processes of datafication in early childhood education (ECE) settings for children from birth-five years in England and how this relates to increased formalisation. Unusually, ECE in England includes a standardised curriculum and formative and statutory assessments; thus it has been described as subject to both datafication and ‘schoolification’, a term used to describe the adoption of school-like practices and values in ECE. Using interview data from ECE settings over the last decade and a theoretical framework drawing on Foucault and Deleuze, the paper sets out the ways in which settings in schools and nurseries are subject to the demands of data, and how this produces data-driven subjectivities for both teacher and child. These developments are then linked to aspects of ‘schoolification’ including more formal teaching, a focus on literacy and mathematics, and use of ‘ability’ grouping.     

Kids’ Time: childhood,television and the regulation of time

This article is concerned with the relationships between children's understanding of the organisation of television time and their sense of what it means to be a child. It is based on qualitative data gathered in one inner city primary school, as part of a broader research project investigating the changing nature of children's media cultures. The article suggests that the notion of time is a crucial aspect of the ways in which children define their relationship with television. It analyses three related aspects of this phenomenon: firstly, children's perceptions of the institutional definitions embodied in the practice of television scheduling; secondly, their notions of psychological development, based partly on the structure of the schedule and partly on their own ‘reading histories'; and thirdly, the place of their television viewing in the scheduling and organisation of family life.     

Revealing the research ‘hole’ of early childhood education for sustainability: a preliminary survey of the literature

In 2007, Environmental Education Research dedicated a special issue to childhood and environmental education. This paper makes a case for ‘early childhood’ to also be in the discussions. Here, I am referring to early childhood as the before‐school years, focusing on educational settings such as childcare centres and kindergartens. This sector is one of the research ‘holes’ that Reid and Scott ask the environmental education community to have the ‘courage to discuss’. This paper draws on a survey of Australian and international research journals in environmental education and early childhood education seeking studies at their intersection. Few were found. Some studies explored young children’s relationships with nature (education in the environment). A smaller number discussed young children’s understandings of environmental topics (education about the environment). Hardly any centred on young children as agents of change (education for the environment). At a time when there is a growing literature showing that early investments in human capital offer substantial returns to individuals and communities and have a far‐reaching effect – and when early childhood educators are beginning to engage with sustainability – it is vital that our field responds. This paper calls for urgent action – especially for research – to address the gap.     

Understanding teachers’ motivation for and commitment to teaching: profiles of Chinese early career,early childhood teachers

ABSTRACT

To better understand the reasons underlying attrition and the teacher shortage, and to develop ways to attract and retain high-quality teachers in early childhood education, it is necessary to explore teacher motivation and commitment to teaching. Although previous research has investigated various aspects of teacher motivation and commitment to teaching, little attention has been paid to this in the context of early childhood teachers, especially early career teachers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 12 early career, early childhood teachers in mainland China, this study aims to examine early career early childhood teachers’ motivation to teach and commitment to teaching in the Chinese context. Four distinct types of early career, early childhood educators were identified: committed passionate, committed compromiser, undecided, and uncommitted. Each of these had unique motives for teaching and different levels of commitment to kindergarten teaching in mainland China. The four types of early career early childhood teachers identified in this study demonstrate the diversity and complexity of teaching motivation and commitment to teaching in the field of early childhood education. The findings from this study can provide implications for policy-makers and teacher educators to enhance novice teachers’ motivation and commitment to teaching in the early childhood context.     

‘Out of the loop’: early childhood educators gaining confidence with unfamiliar policy discourse

It has been seven years since the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) was introduced in Australia and four years since the National Quality Standard (NQS) was implemented. To gain insight into how educators are understanding practice in the Australian early childhood and care context, the study draws on a praxeological frame where educators have the opportunity to inquire and critically reflect on practice in a supported research environment. Data were analysed using critical discourse analysis, enabling a close examination of participant reflections and understandings about practice. Findings reveal that educators are confident when describing their teaching using familiar educational discourse, whereas educators were apprehensive when confronted with new and unfamiliar concepts. The third finding illustrates the ways educators gain confidence with unfamiliar policy discourse. The study’s findings add to limited empirical evidence about how early childhood educators understand key concepts introduced by the EYLF and NQS.     

Families in need of domestic violence services reported to the child welfare system: Changes in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being between 1999–2000 and 2008–2009

This study aimed to determine if identification of intimate partner violence (IPV) has improved by caseworkers that investigate reports of child maltreatment and if mothers who are victims of IPV are more likely to report receipt of services. The study data were drawn from the two cohorts of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW I and II), the first in 1999–2000 with a sample of 5,501 children reported for maltreatment and the second in 2008–2009 with a sample of 5,872 children reported for maltreatment. The analyses focused on IPV victimization of 3,625 mothers in NSCAW I and 3,351 mothers in NSCAW II whose children remained in home after the maltreatment investigation. Multiple group logistic regression was used to compare NSCAW I and II. A significant decrease in mother-reported IPV victimization (28.9–24.7%) was observed, representing a 15% decline. There were no significant changes in caseworker identification of history of domestic violence or active domestic violence. In both cohorts, substance abuse by the secondary caregiver was associated with a lower likelihood for the caseworker to miss a history of active domestic violence, while substantiation reduced the likelihood that the caseworker will miss active domestic violence. There were no changes in caseworkers’ service referral, or service receipt among victims. The next decade of efforts to reduce IPV and child maltreatment should focus simultaneously on increasing caseworkers’ ability to identify IPV and on funding needed services for families impacted by IPV and child maltreatment.     

Approaches to teaching in thematic work: early childhood teachers’ integration of mathematics and art

Thematic work that integrates different knowledge areas is considered suitable for developing young children’s knowledge and skills in early childhood education. This paper reports evidence from a survey of early childhood teachers’ work with mathematics and art integrated in thematic work. In this study, we aim to explore how teachers perceive mathematics learning and teaching integrated with art. Data for analysis were collected from a questionnaire answered by 27 early childhood teachers from Finland and Sweden. Influenced by a sociocultural theoretical framework, the analysis concerns the teachers’ expressed goals for learning and their strategies for achieving these goals. The analysis reveals qualitatively different approaches to the learning goals addressed by the teachers – process-oriented, product-oriented, development-oriented and providing awareness – which, respectively, seem to generate different meanings of mathematical learning integrated with art. This study offers an overview of teachers’ approaches to teaching mathematics and art in thematic work, and of how different approaches may influence what mathematical meaning is offered to children to explore.