The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment and other types of victimization in the UK: Findings from a population survey of caregivers,children and young people and young adults

Objectives

To measure the prevalence of maltreatment and other types of victimization among children, young people, and young adults in the UK; to explore the risks of other types of victimization among maltreated children and young people at different ages; using standardized scores from self-report measures, to assess the emotional wellbeing of maltreated children, young people, and young adults taking into account other types of childhood victimization, different perpetrators, non-victimization adversities and variables known to influence mental health.

Methods

A random UK representative sample of 2,160 parents and caregivers, 2,275 children and young people, and 1,761 young adults completed computer-assisted self-interviews. Interviews included assessment of a wide range of childhood victimization experiences and measures of impact on mental health.

Results

2.5% of children aged under 11 years and 6% of young people aged 11–17 years had 1 or more experiences of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or neglect by a parent or caregiver in the past year, and 8.9% of children under 11 years, 21.9% of young people aged 11–17 years, and 24.5% of young adults had experienced this at least once during childhood. High rates of sexual victimization were also found; 7.2% of females aged 11–17 and 18.6% of females aged 18–24 reported childhood experiences of sexual victimization by any adult or peer that involved physical contact (from sexual touching to rape). Victimization experiences accumulated with age and overlapped. Children who experienced maltreatment from a parent or caregiver were more likely than those not maltreated to be exposed to other forms of victimization, to experience non-victimization adversity, a high level of polyvictimization, and to have higher levels of trauma symptoms.

Conclusions

The past year maltreatment rates for children under age 18 were 7–17 times greater than official rates of substantiated child maltreatment in the UK. Professionals working with children and young people in all settings should be alert to the overlapping and age-related differences in experiences of childhood victimization to better identify child maltreatment and prevent the accumulative impact of different victimizations upon children's mental health.     

School‐based Management — pointing directions for twenty‐first century elementary and middle school principals

As man rushes to the dawn of the twenty‐first century, his society and our own system of education are engulfed in widespread changes. One of these provocative changes is the new move to the site‐based management concept whereby principals become the chief school officers of their own school site. The school principal, in essence, is to have complete control and responsibility over his/her school — the superintendent does not dictate, but rather, negotiates all school business with his principals. In light of this new movement, these two authors draw a parallel between past and present expectations of building principals and submit a planning model for on‐site managerial administrators to inspect, study and implement in accordance with their own needs. The reader is provided with an array of perspectives with which on‐site administrators must deal if total assumption of school‐site business and school programming becomes a reality in the USA and universally.     

Substance Abuse Policies in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Survey with Implications for Education of Long-Term Care Providers

The aging of the Baby Boom presents long-term care with many new challenges. Among these are the historically high levels of drug use by this cohort. This study surveyed administrators of licensed skilled nursing facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky regarding their perception of current drug use by residents, facility policies and procedures currently in place regarding illicit drug use, and their attitudes toward use of illicit drugs by residents. The results of interviews with 40 administrators or their designees revealed that they have experienced little problem with use or abuse of illegal drugs by residents. Fewer than one-third of the facilities had formal policies in place regarding illegal drug use. Only 10% had any experience with requests for medical marijuana, but almost one in five had a policy on the matter and nearly one-third stated they would support medical marijuana use by some of their residents if the matter arose. These authors recommend the following: (a) that the issue of illicit drug use needs to be addressed now before the situation becomes critical, (b) that administrators and staff need to be educated about recreational drug use and appropriate responses to drug abuse, (c) that screening instruments for drug abuse in this population should be developed and implemented, and (d) that policies regarding medical marijuana need to be adopted by all such facilities.     

The Implementation of Progress Files in Higher Education: Reflection as National Policy

Progress files, involving personal development planning (PDP), are becoming a feature of many higher education systems internationally. In the UK they will become mandatory for all undergraduate students from 2005. This presents a major implementation challenge, because while reflection has been a cornerstone of practice in some areas of higher education for a considerable time, its generalisation as national policy changes its discursive location. The paper presents findings from a case study of the implementation of PF in one UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). It reports on how staff in one institution understand PF in the context of national policy, and on how they interpret the challenges they face in facilitating reflection for all students. The paper argues that pedagogical innovations take on a different meaning when applied to the system as a whole.     

A Study on the Impact of GPA on Perceived Improvement of Higher‐Order Cognitive Skills*

Colleges of Business (COBs) have experienced high growth rates in the past decade and many colleges are imposing minimum grade point average (GPA) requirements for students to enter or remain in the college. A primary reason for this requirement may be the belief that students with high GPAs are more inclined to demonstrate higher‐order cognitive skills (HOCS) than students with low GPAs. It is not clear whether the link is valid. This study hypothesizes that students with high GPAs who are taught in the same way as students with lower GPAs will have higher perceptions of improved HOCS. We conducted an experiment in which students, with varying GPAs, at three large universities primarily used multimedia instructional materials. We obtained the students' perceptions of their improved HOCS from their responses to a survey. A regression analysis of the data reveals that the relationship between GPAs and students' perceived improvement in HOCS is significant (p < .001). We conclude the study by recommending that (a) it is critical to use research methodologies to evaluate perceived and actual learning improvements, (b) COB policies to implement GPA restrictions on admission are worthwhile, and (c) case studies need to be used much more frequently in undergraduate COB classes.     

Celtic FC’s 1967 Lisbon Lions: why the European Cup victory of the first club from Britain was a defining moment for the Irish diaspora in Scotland

ABSTRACT

In 1967, in Lisbon, Celtic Football Club, won the European Cup becoming the first club outside of Portugal, Spain and Italy to win it. The win was and is totemic for the Irish Catholic immigrant community in Scotland that has historically supported Celtic. We suggest the significance of the win reveals intersections of ethnicity, religion, nationalism, and the politics of ‘sectarianism’ in Scotland. During a period of discriminatory practices and attitudes towards Irish descended Catholics in Scotland, this iconic win for a Scottish based club born of Irish Catholics personified for this diaspora that (on one level) their day had arrived. This article explores the socio-cultural significance and legacy of ‘Lisbon 67? for insider and outsider groups in Scotland. We reveal that soccer remains a central component of group memory connecting the past, present and future. We suggest Celtic’s win offered confidence and hope to a marginalized group within Scotland.