Psychosocial correlates of child abuse potential in multiply disadvantaged adolescent mothers

OBJECTIVE: This study had two aims: First to examine psychosocial correlates of child maltreatment risk, and second to assess the validity of the CAP Inventory (Milner, 1986) with multiply disadvantaged teenage mothers. METHOD: Participants were 75 adolescent mothers who were wards of the Illinois child protection system. Mothers (aged 14-18) and infants participated in home-based psychosocial assessment of personal and parenting functioning. Group comparisons examined differences for mothers with elevated versus normal versus invalid CAP scores due to faking good. RESULTS: Findings indicated that abuse risk groups differed on emotional distress, social support satisfaction, reading achievement, and years of education, but not on parenting beliefs or quality of child stimulation. Differences favored the normal over the elevated risk group in all significant comparisons, whereas mothers with elevated faking good differed from normals only in lower reading achievement. Multiple regression analysis highlighted emotional distress, support dissatisfaction, and low achievement as significant predictors of greater abuse risk. CONCLUSIONS: Despite sharing multiple disadvantages, adolescent wards are a heterogeneous group who show different levels of psychosocial functioning corresponding to levels of child maltreatment risk. The findings provide support for the concurrent validity and clinical applicability of the CAP Inventory with disadvantaged teenage mothers.     

The development of an effective response to the abuse of children in out-of-home care

The placement of children in foster or residential care does not ensure that children will be safe from abuse or neglect. The incidence of out-of-home maltreatment, especially sexual exploitation and abuse, has given rise to new community expectations and legislation which has placed the protection of children in alternate care squarely in the hands of the child protective system. These investigations differ in purpose and scope from familial investigations, and the current protective system is without adequate preparation, policy, and procedures to perform them. This paper discusses the differences in familial and out-of-home care investigations in relation to identification and reporting, assessing risk factors in the initial report, evidence gathering, essential components of the investigation, levels of culpability and corrective action approaches. The authors suggest that specialized investigation units may be more suited to these investigations than traditional child protective services.     

Facilitating Understanding of Movements in Dynamic Visualizations: an Embodied Perspective

Learners studying mechanical or technical processes via dynamic visualizations often fail to build an accurate mental representation of the system’s movements. Based on embodied theories of cognition assuming that action, perception, and cognition are closely intertwined, this paper proposes that the learning effectiveness of dynamic visualizations could be enhanced by grounding the movements of the presentation in people’s own bodily experiences during learning. We discuss recent research on embodied cognition and provide specific strategies for how the body can be used to ground movements during the learning process: (1) making or observing gestures, (2) manipulating and interacting with objects, (3) using body metaphors, and (4) using eye movements as retrieval cues. Implications for the design of dynamic visualizations as well as directions for future research are presented.     

Incorporating Service-Learning, Technology, and Research Supportive Teaching Techniques into the University Chemistry Classroom

Technology was integrated into service-learning activities to create an interactive teaching method for undergraduate students at a large research institution. Chemistry students at the University of Central Florida partnered with high school students at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in interactive service learning projects. The projects allowed UCF students to teach newly acquired content knowledge and build upon course lecture and lab exercises. Activities utilized the web-conferencing tool Adobe Connect Pro to enable interaction with high school students, many of whom have limited access to supplemental educational opportunities due to low socioeconomic status. Seventy chemistry I students created lessons to clarify high school students’ misconceptions through the use of refutational texts. In addition, 21 UCF students enrolled in the chemistry II laboratory course acted as virtual lab partners with Crooms students in an interactive guided inquiry experiment focused on chemical kinetics. An overview of project’s design, implementation, and assessments are detailed in the case study and serve as a model for future community partnerships. Emerging technologies are emphasized as well as a suggested set of best practices for future projects.     

Child sexual abuse and bulimic symptomatology: relevance of specific abuse variables

OBJECTIVE: This study examined specific aspects of child sexual abuse in relation to symptom severity among hospitalized patients diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. METHOD: Participants were 45 hospitalized bulimic women who reported a history of child sexual abuse. Structured interviews were conducted in order to obtain detailed information regarding specific features of the abusive event(s). Participants also completed instruments that measured depression and eating pathology. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in severity of depression or eating disturbance among women reporting differing abusive experiences including intrafamilial versus extrafamilial abuse, abuse with or without the use of physical force, one versus multiple incidents, early abuse versus abuse occurring after age 14, contact versus noncontact abuse, disclosed versus undisclosed, and combined physical/sexual abuse versus sexual abuse alone. CONCLUSION: The specific characteristics of child sexual abuse are not related to the level of symptomatology for hospitalized bulimic patients. This study suggests that differences in the nature of the abuse may not be as important as the fact that the abuse occurred in the first place.     

Classroom behavior of children and adolescents with learning disabilities: a meta-analysis

Meta-analysis was used to review the results of 25 studies that compared the classroom behavior of children and adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) to children without learning disabilities. The data were analyzed from several different methodological perspectives. Results showed that both methodologically strong and weak studies demonstrated significant behavioral deficits of children with learning disabilities compared to their nondisabled peers in each of five overall areas: on-task behavior, off-task behavior, conduct disorders, distractibility, and shy/withdrawn behavior. Both observational and teacher rating data demonstrated these differences. Effect sizes for both groups of studies seemed to cluster around 1 standard deviation, suggesting noticeable and educationally significant impairment in the behavior of children with disabilities. Analysis of grade-level effect sizes suggests some explanation for the large number of referrals often witnessed during the elementary school years. Educational implications of these behavioral differences in terms of implications for mainstreaming are discussed.