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In adults, higher anxiety level related to COVID-19 has been associated with having a pre-existing medical or mental health condition and poor sleep quality. However, no study yet has looked at these links in children. The present study’s main aim was to assess family changes associated with child and parent fears and concerns about COVID-19. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 144 families with children aged 9–12 years during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Families came from Quebec, Canada, and the survey was done in the early stages of the lockdown (April–May 2020). A phone-based survey assessed parent and child COVID-19-related fears and concerns, family-related changes and health issues. Results showed the more fears parents have about COVID-19, the more fears their child also has. Moreover, changes in family sleep habits were associated with parental and child fears and concerns about COVID-19. Reduced access to health services was associated with parental concerns about COVID-19. If another lockdown was to be put in place in the future, it would be important to inform families on the importance of sleep schedules and to maintain or increase health appointments when possible.

Despite evidence of some intergenerational continuity of maltreatment, a notable proportion of parents maltreated in childhood do not perpetuate the cycle of maltreatment. The aim of this study was to identify factors that would distinguish mother–child dyads where intergenerational continuity was present from dyads characterized by intergenerational discontinuity. The sample included 193 children and their mothers, drawn from two populations: 74 maltreated children recruited through Child Protection Services and 119 nonmaltreated children recruited among low-income families. Factors investigated included maternal childhood maltreatment, psychological functioning, and family ecology. Compared to maltreated mothers who broke the cycle of maltreatment, those who perpetuated the cycle were more likely to have experienced childhood physical neglect and multitype maltreatment, and to experience sociodemographic risk, intimate partner violence, and lack of family support. Compared to nonmaltreated mothers who maintained a nonmaltreating child-rearing environment: (a) maltreated mothers who broke the cycle were more likely to experience residential instability and lack of family support, and (b) nonmaltreated mothers whose child was maltreated were more likely to experience sociodemographic risk and lack of family support. Maternal psychological functioning did not discriminate maltreatment groups. Lending empirical support to a diathesis-stress model of poor parenting, these findings suggest that family-ecology related stress, but not maternal psychological difficulties, may create additional burden that will precipitate the risk of maltreatment intergenerational continuity.

This study (a) assessed whether child neglect is associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and dissociative symptoms in the preschool period and (b) examined the role of quality of mother-child affective communication in the development of trauma-related symptoms among neglected children. Participants were 33 neglected and 72 non-neglected preschoolers (mean age = 60 months). Neglected children were recruited from the Child Protection Agencies. Neglected and non-neglected children victims of other form of abuse were excluded from the study. Trauma symptoms were evaluated through mother and preschool teacher reports. Quality of mother-child affective communication was assessed in a lab visit during an unstructured task. According to teachers, neglected children displayed more PTSD and dissociative symptoms than non-neglected children. Quality of mother-child communication was lower in neglected dyads. Mother-child affective communication predicted teacher-reported child trauma symptomatology, over and above child neglect. Discussion focuses on the traumatic nature of child neglect and the underlying parent-child relational processes.

: Objective: To evaluate how sociodemographic characteristics and various aspects of parent well-being, family functioning, parent-child relationship, and child characteristics are related to psychological functioning in children aged 9 to 12 years during the COVID-19 lockdown. Method: Participants included 144 children aged 9 to 12 years and their parents who lived in the province of Quebec, Canada, during the COVID-19 mandatory lockdown. Parents and children were administered a phone-based survey in which various child, parent, parent-child, and family characteristics were assessed. Results: Results showed that higher internalizing problems in children were related to greater depressive symptoms in parents, lower attachment security to parents, and greater aversion to aloneness in children. Results on externalizing behavior problems showed that more problems were associated with more family dysfunction and chaos and lower attachment security to parents. Finally, results on children's anxiety toward COVID-19 showed that more anxiety was associated with greater parental anxiety toward COVID-19 and more child aversion to aloneness. Conclusion: Our findings showed that even during an unusual and stressful context such as a pandemic, proximal variables such as the attachment relationship that have been known to be closely associated with adaptation are significantly related to child psychological functioning. Such observations are important because they highlight factors that may accentuate child vulnerability in times of a pandemic and shed light on potential intervention targets.

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Many clinicians and researchers have proposed considering child abuse and neglect from a traumatic stress perspective to better understand how they so profoundly impact child development. According to this perspective, child maltreatment (both child abuse and neglect) is viewed as a chronic interpersonal trauma which may severely interfere with normal developmental processes, often resulting in long‐lasting behavioural, emotional and psychophysiological dysregulations. In this paper, we summarise theoretical and empirical literature addressing the traumatic nature of child neglect, with a specific focus on short‐term consequences of neglect in childhood. We then give an overview of some key intervention elements stemming from trauma‐informed approaches with traumatised children and their families.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages Child neglect is viewed as a chronic interpersonal trauma which may severely interfere with normal developmental processes, often resulting in long‐lasting behavioural, emotional and psychophysiological dysregulations. Key intervention guidelines stemming from trauma‐informed approaches include: A detailed assessment of the child's trauma history and characteristics Providing a safe environment for the child Helping the child build feelings of emotional security Improving parental sensitivity Developing child emotional self‐regulation Offering emotional therapeutic support to the parent.