Larissa Rossen1, Stacy Tzoumakis2, Maina Kariuki1, Kristin R Laurens3, Merran Butler4, Marilyn Chilvers4, Felicity Harris1, Vaughan J Carr5, Melissa J Green6. 1. School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. 2. School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. 3. School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. 4. NSW Department of Family and Community Services, NSW, Australia. 5. School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia; Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. 6. School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: melissa.green@unsw.edu.au.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment is associated with early childhood developmental vulnerabilities. However, the extent to which higher levels of child protection responses confer benefit to developmental competencies, and the impact of earlier timing of first reports in relation to early childhood vulnerability remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between early developmental vulnerabilities and (1) the highest level of child protection response (where OOHC was deemed the highest response among other types of reports/responses), and (2) the developmental timing of the first child protection report. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants included 67,027 children from the New South Wales Child Development Study, of whom 10,944 were reported to child protection services up to age 5 years. METHODS: A series of Multinomial Logistic Regressions were conducted to examine focal associations. RESULTS: Children with substantiated maltreatment reports showed the strongest odds of vulnerability on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 4.90; 95% CI = 4.13-5.80); children placed in OOHC showed slightly better physical, cognitive and communication competencies (adjusted ORs from 1.83 to 2.65) than those with substantiated reports that did not result in OOHC placements (adjusted OR from 2.77 to 3.67), when each group was compared to children with no child protection reports. Children with first maltreatment reports occurring in the first 18 months of life showed the strongest likelihood of developmental vulnerabilities on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 3.56; 95% CI = 3.15-4.01) relative to children with no child protection reports. CONCLUSION: Earlier reports of maltreatment may signal the need for targeted remediation of early developmental competencies to mitigate early developmental difficulties. Crown
BACKGROUND: Childhood maltreatment is associated with early childhood developmental vulnerabilities. However, the extent to which higher levels of child protection responses confer benefit to developmental competencies, and the impact of earlier timing of first reports in relation to early childhood vulnerability remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between early developmental vulnerabilities and (1) the highest level of child protection response (where OOHC was deemed the highest response among other types of reports/responses), and (2) the developmental timing of the first child protection report. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING:Participants included 67,027 children from the New South Wales Child Development Study, of whom 10,944 were reported to child protection services up to age 5 years. METHODS: A series of Multinomial Logistic Regressions were conducted to examine focal associations. RESULTS:Children with substantiated maltreatment reports showed the strongest odds of vulnerability on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 4.90; 95% CI = 4.13-5.80); children placed in OOHC showed slightly better physical, cognitive and communication competencies (adjusted ORs from 1.83 to 2.65) than those with substantiated reports that did not result in OOHC placements (adjusted OR from 2.77 to 3.67), when each group was compared to children with no child protection reports. Children with first maltreatment reports occurring in the first 18 months of life showed the strongest likelihood of developmental vulnerabilities on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 3.56; 95% CI = 3.15-4.01) relative to children with no child protection reports. CONCLUSION: Earlier reports of maltreatment may signal the need for targeted remediation of early developmental competencies to mitigate early developmental difficulties. Crown
Authors: Divya Mehta; Adrian B Kelly; Kristin R Laurens; Divna Haslam; Kate E Williams; Kerryann Walsh; Philip R A Baker; Hannah E Carter; Nigar G Khawaja; Ben Mathews; Oksana Zelenko Journal: Child Psychiatry Hum Dev Date: 2021-09-29
Authors: Magdalena Janus; Caroline Reid-Westoby; Noam Raiter; Barry Forer; Martin Guhn Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-03-25 Impact factor: 3.390