Self-esteem and early background of abusive mothers

Thirty-six mothers whose children had been abused were interviewed and compared with 36 mothers matched for social class and ethnic background. The abuse group mothers had lower self-esteem than the comparison mothers as judged by their desire that their children should not grow up to be like themselves or their partners. They were also less likely to discuss their problems with other people. They were less likely than the comparison mothers to have been brought up by their own parents. They had significantly more negative feelings than the comparison mothers towards their fathers when they were children and these negative feelings persisted into adult life. It is important that emphasis on treatment programs for these mothers should be placed on building up self-esteem and skills in interpersonal relationships.     

Acceptability of positive and punitive discipline methods: comparisons among abusive, potentially abusive, and nonabusive parents

The present study compared abusive, potentially abusive, and control group parents' perceptions of commonly used discipline procedures. The clinical samples were obtained from Parents Anonymous (PA) and consisted of both court-referred (abusive) and self-referred (potentially abusive) members. The subjects were presented with case vignettes that described a child with either mild or severe behavior problems and asked to rate four methods of disciplining the child. The discipline methods involved positive reinforcement, timeout, timeout with spanking, and spanking. The findings indicated that (1) overall, the parents generally evaluated positive reinforcement as significantly more acceptable than timeout, timeout with spanking, and spanking; (2) self-referred PA members viewed timeout, timeout with spanking, and spanking as relatively more acceptable than did their demographically similar comparison group; and (3) court-referred PA parents' ratings did not significantly differ from their comparison group, since both groups rated the reinforcement method as significantly more acceptable than the other three discipline methods.     

Recognising fathers: the needs of fathers of children with disabilities

In this article, the authors aim to develop a better understanding among practitioners of the issues faced by fathers of children with a learning disability, and suggest how schools can involve the parents who are regarded by many as ‘hard to reach’. They recontextualize the roles and perceptions of fathers in the light of outcomes from the recent ‘Recognising Fathers’ report published by the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities. Following an introduction to Government policy and literature relating to fathers, the outcomes of semi‐structured interviews conducted with 21 fathers in the course of the ‘Recognising Fathers’ study are summarized in terms of the emotional impact, the roles and responsibilities, the impact on fathers’ paid employment, support and father–practitioner interaction. The article concludes with practical suggestions for how practitioners might meet the needs of fathers in their own schools and provide them with an effective support network.     

Integrating Physically Handicapped Pupils

What are the teaching and organisational strategies needed for successful integration? Dr. Ann Hodgson, research officer, National Foundation for Educational Research, discusses those identified in a recent study which she carried out with colleagues     

Physically based modeling and animation of tornado

INTRODUCTIONTornado is one of the most terrible natural phe- nomena in the world. It causes incredible amounts of damage and destroys significant numbers of facilities every year. No wonder it receives great attention as a major research topic in many fields. Realistic simu- lation of tornado is also a great challenge for com- puter graphics researchers. It provides useful infor- mation for natural disaster prevention and can be integrated into entertainment, computer games, etc. Most to…     

Science for the Physically Handicapped

Alan Jones, associate head, Department of Physical Sciences, Trent Polytechnic Anthony Barnett, research assistant, suggest some science activities which could be introduced in the context of any elementary science curriculum     

Extreme food behavior in abusive families

The availability of food can provide a positive tool in the treatment of abusive and neglectful families. This concept evolves from the belief that inadequate parents are most often people who have been deprived of an adequate “parenting” experience in their own lives. Deprivation creates a void of security which may result in many extremes of behavior. Many of these extremes, as they are related to food habits, have been defined here.Gorging is identified as the first extreme, and differentiation is made between the dynamics of the discriminate gorger who can be helped specifically and the indiscriminate gorger who needs infinite abundance to feel secure. Secondly, the physical and emotional insecurities which result in a need to hoard food are examined, and some insight is offered into understanding the obese patient and the steps necessary before anticipating any effective regulation of the obese person's eating habits. The last personal extreme discussed is despised-food intake which is an easily recognizable symptom of deprivation.The extremes of interaction between peers and spouses at group meals have been addressed, and it is noted that group meals which are traditionally instruments of socialization can be extremely stressful for groups of insecure members.Finally, the extremes of parent-child interaction are outlined, and it is shown how these extremes can reduce the family's mealtime to a devastating emotional battleground. The characteristics of overfeeding and withholding are defined, and it is shown how this chain of extremes results in a complete breakdown of the “parenting” process in which all members fail. Based on the clinical observations made at The National Center for the Pre- vention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect in Denver, it is suggested that feeding can be used as a therapeutic tool not only to attract and hold patient attendance, but also to facilitate progress in therapy through the reduction of physical anxiety.     

浅析危险废物的管理与风险评价

危险废物具有毒害性、爆炸性、易燃性、腐蚀性、化学反应性、传染性、放射性等一种或几种以上的危害特性并以其特有的性质对环境产生污染,其危害的长期性和潜伏性对人类和环境构成很大威胁;应从减少废物的产生量、对有用资源回收利用、高温焚烧、稳定化和固化处理等方面着手加强对危险废的管理;危险废物管理的风险评价具体包括为运输过程风险评价、贮存过程风险评价、利用过程风险评价。     

Predicting the abusive parent's response to intervention

Data from Child Protective Services case files was used to establish a Responsiveness Index, measuring the extent to which, in the worker's opinion, an abusive individual had responded positively to various common interventions. Factors likely to predict parental responsiveness then were tested. Variables with predictive significance were: the number of abused children in the family, the number of birth and bonding problems, and the number of previous contacts with other service agencies by various family members. Other variables which are ordinarily assumed to forecast a favorable outcome did not approach significance.     

First-time fathers and stressors in the postpartum period

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the everyday stressors of first-time fathers during the postpartum period and to begin the process of establishing reliability and validity for the use of the Everyday Stressors Index with a sample of first-time fathers. A convenience sample of 19 participants included first-time fathers ranging in age from 18 to 45 years and mostly living in medium-sized cities. The results indicated that factors such as a feeling of not having enough time for too many responsibilities, financial issues, and concerns about the health of the child and other family member(s) were sources of stress. However, with the exception of slight differences in the ranking, everyday stressors among first-time fathers closely resembled previously reported stressors of first-time mothers. Although the sample was small and the results nongeneralizable, these findings suggest that educational efforts by health-care professionals could beneficially be directed toward fathers as well as mothers throughout the prenatal and postpartum periods. Policy implications for nursing and new directions for future research are discussed.     

Child-related cognitions and affective functioning of physically abusive and comparison parents

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this research was to utilize the cognitive behavioral model of abusive parenting to select and examine risk factors to illuminate the unique and combined influences of social cognitive and affective variables in predicting abuse group membership. METHODOLOGY: Participants included physically abusive parents (n=56) and a closely-matched group of comparison parents (n=62). Social cognitive risk variables measured were (a) parent's expectations for children's abilities and maturity, (b) parental attributions of intentionality of child misbehavior, and (c) parents' perceptions of their children's adjustment. Affective risk variables included (a) psychopathology and (b) parenting stress. A series of logistic regression models were constructed to test the individual, combined, and interactive effects of risk variables on abuse group membership. RESULTS: The full set of five risk variables was predictive of abuse status; however, not all variables were predictive when considered individually and interactions did not contribute significantly to prediction. A risk composite score computed for each parent based on the five risk variables significantly predicted abuse status. Wide individual differences in risk across the five variables were apparent within the sample of abusive parents. CONCLUSIONS: Findings were generally consistent with a cognitive behavioral model of abuse, with cognitive variables being more salient in predicting abuse status than affective factors. Results point to the importance of considering diversity in characteristics of abusive parents.     

Psychological profiles of sexually abusive adolescents in Ireland

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to profile the psychological and psychosocial characteristics of a group of Irish adolescents who had sexually abused other youngsters. METHOD: Levels of behavior problems, personal adjustment, anger management, and psychosocial adjustment were compared in 27 Irish adolescents with a history of sexually abusing another youngster (SA group), 20 clinical controls who had significant behavioral problems but no history of sexual offending (CC group), and 29 normal controls who were without significant psychological problems (NC group). Measures used included the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Youth Self-Report Form (YSR), selected scales from Beckett (1997) Adolescent Sex Offender Assessment Pack (ASOAP), and the Family Environment Scale (FES). RESULTS: Compared with the CC group, the SA group displayed fewer problems overall on the CBCL and the YSR. The SA group showed problems with self-esteem, emotional loneliness, and perspective-taking similar to those of the CC group, but their impulsivity scores were similar to those of the NC group. The locus of control scores of the SA group fell between those of the CC and NC groups. The SA group showed an anger management profile that fell at an intermediate position between those of the NC and CC groups. The SA group showed problematic family functioning in the areas of expressiveness, behavior control, and social support, similar to those of the CC group. Their difficulties with family cohesion were less severe than those of the CC group but worse than those of the NC group. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the psychological adjustment of adolescents with a history of sexually abusing others was more problematic than that of normal controls but less problematic than that of youngsters who had significant behavioral problems but no history of sexual offending.     

实验室危险因素评估及安全准入管理探索

阐述了实验室危险因素评估及安全准入管理的现状和必要性,提出实验室安全准入管理应以实验室危险因素为依据,将实验室安全培训、安全模拟、安全教育考试等方面系统结合,强调安全考核分类、分级、分层开展,实行动态管理。     

基于风险矩阵的个贷风险评估

利用风险矩阵方法研究商业银行个人住房贷款风险评估问题.首先构建了风险矩阵,设计了利用风险矩阵对个贷风险评估的基本流程,为个贷风险管理问题提供了一种实用、易行和科学的评估方法,最后给出了风险防范措施.     

Modeling data quality for risk assessment of GIS

This paper presents a methodology to determine three data quality (DQ) risk characteristics: accuracy, comprehensiveness and nonmembership. The methodology provides a set of quantitative models to confirm the information quality risks for the database of the geographical information system (GIS). Four quantitative measures are introduced to examine how the quality risks of source information affect the quality of information outputs produced using the relational algebra operations Selection, Projection, and Cubic Product. It can be used to determine how quality risks associated with diverse data sources affect the derived data. The GIS is the prime source of information on the location of cables, and detection time strongly depends on whether maps indicate the presence of cables in the construction business. Poor data quality in the GIS can contribute to increased risk or higher risk avoidance costs. A case study provides a numerical example of the calculation of the trade-offs between risk and detection costs and provides an example of the calculation of the costs of data quality. We conclude that the model contributes valuable new insight.