Child on child sexual abuse: psychological perspectives

OBJECTIVE: This study describes the emotional and behavioral responses of children who have been sexually victimized by juveniles (CC) 17 years of age and younger compared to child victims of adults (CA) 18 years of age and older. METHOD: A total sample of N = 194 children and adolescents participated in the study, with 26% (n = 51) comprising CC and 74% (n = 143) encompassing CA. The mother/caretaker was administered a demographic form, Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and the Family Assessment Measure (FAM-P). The child was given the Family Assessment Measure (FAM-C) and the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC). The clinician completed the Parental Reaction to Incest Disclosure Scale (PRIDS). RESULTS: No differences were found between the two groups for the type of sexual abuse, penetration, or the use of force. CC were younger and more likely to be males who were abused in a school setting, home, or a relative's home by a sibling or a non-related male. CC endorsed clinically significant sexual preoccupations and manifested borderline clinically significant symptomatology. CONCLUSIONS: Children victimized by other children manifested elevated levels of emotional and behavioral problems and were not significantly different from those who had been sexually abused by adults.     

Media education for older people - views of stakeholders

ABSTRACT

This study is a part of an ongoing design-based research (DBR) project aimed at designing, piloting, and assessing a digital study module focused on older people’s media education. In order to gain a better understanding of older people’s media literacy and develop the teaching of adult educators, participatory creative workshops for a total of thirty-one stakeholders (older people and professionals who work with them) were conducted. Research data was collected from these workshops through a case exercise from stakeholders and a questionnaire from older people during the year 2019. According to the stakeholders, older people need more training in all the dimensions of media literacy, which is understood as competence in accessing, using, understanding, creating, and critically analyzing different media texts. However, use dimension was the most featured dimension in the data. In addition, older people are a heterogeneous group and it is essential that media education is tailored to meet the current needs of older people. The results indicate that media education should be designed especially to address the needs and individuality of older people.     

Parent and Peer Predictors of Change in Attachment Security From Adolescence to Adulthood

Interview, self‐report, peer report, and observational data were used to examine parent and peer relationship qualities as predictors of relative changes in attachment security in a community sample of adolescents followed from ages 14 to 24. Early maternal supportive behavior predicted relative increases in attachment security from adolescence to adulthood, whereas psychological control and interparental hostile conflict predicted relative decreases. Peer predictors of relative increases in security included collaborative and autonomous behaviors and lack of hostile interactions, with peer predictions growing stronger for relationships assessed at later ages. Overall, models accounted for sufficient variance as to suggest that attachment security across this period is well explained by a combination of stability plus theoretically predicted change linked to social relationship qualities.     

Is there a specific relationship between childhood sexual and physical abuse and repeated suicidal behavior?

OBJECTIVE: Studies show that childhood sexual and physical abuse predict repeated suicide attempts and self-mutilation. Little is known about the importance of sexual and physical abuse when compared to other severe childhood adversities with respect to chronic suicidal behavior. METHOD: Seventy-four subjects, 65% of whom were women, consecutively admitted to a general hospital after having made a suicide attempt, were interviewed as part of the intake interview about prior suicide attempts and self-mutilation and received DSM-IV diagnoses. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, antipathy from parents, loss of parents, and severe discord in the family before the age of 18, were covered by the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse (CECA) interview schedule. RESULTS: The prevalence of severe sexual abuse was 35%, severe physical abuse 18%, neglect 27%, antipathy 34%, loss of caregiver 37% and exposure to family violence 31%. Physical and sexual abuse were independently associated with repeated suicide attempts when controlling for the effects of the other childhood adverse factors. No other childhood adversity was related to chronic suicidal behavior. The odds ratio of exposure to sexual or physical abuse was highest among those who both repeated suicide attempts and self-mutilated. CONCLUSION: Physical and sexual abuse are significantly and independently associated with repeated suicidal behavior.     

All talk and no action: transforming the rhetoric of parent–professional partnership into practice

There is agreement in political and academic circles that partnership working between parents and professionals is critical to optimising educational provision for children who have special needs. Yet this method of optimisation often appears to be an elusive feature of current practice. In order to begin to explore this chasm between the largely hypothetical parent–professional partnerships set out centrally in British government policy and the widespread reality of parental dissatisfaction, this article identifies the key drivers and inhibitors to partnership working, as revealed within the empirical and theoretical literature. Much of the literature referred to here has its roots in organisational theory, economics, management and political studies – the aim being to learn from rigorous research undertaken in other sectors regarding partnership working, in order to begin to construct a more effective model of parent–professional partnership within special education.     

Bridging the gap between policy and practice: adopting a strategic vision for partnership working in special education

The desirability of parents and professionals in special education working in partnership continues to be expressed through Government policy and legislation and through voluntary sector initiatives. Moreover, partnership working attracts significant financial investment. Yet effective, working parent - professional partnerships often remain elusive in practice. In this article, Susanna Pinkus, a teacher, consultant and teaching practice supervisor who recently completed her PhD, describes her research into partnerships between parents and professionals. She bases her assertions on the daily experiences of 14 parents based in four London education authorities and attributes an absence of effective collaboration to lack of understanding about how partnerships between parents and professionals do, and should, function in the special educational context. In order to bridge this gap between the rhetoric of policy and the difficulties that are frequently reported in developing parent-professional relationships in practice, Susanna Pinkus identifies and discusses four principles as being central to forming effective partnerships.