Child Exposure to Parental Violence and Psychological Distress Associated With Delayed Milestones

Abstract

WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: It has previously been shown that exposure to intimate partner violence and/or parental depression or anxiety may increase a child' s risk for specific adverse health outcomes.WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: By using a large pediatric primary care sample, this study examined associations of child exposure to intimate partner violence and parental psychological distress with developmental milestone attainment by analyzing their combined and separate effects while adjusting for other family factors.abstract OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between parental report of intimate partner violence (IPV) and parental psychological distress (PPD) with child attainment of developmental milestones.METHODS: By using data collected from a large cohort of primary care patients, this cross-sectional study examined the relationship between parental report of IPV and/or PPD and the attainment of developmental milestones within the first 72 months of a child' s life. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to adjust for parental report of child abuse concern and sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS:Our study population included 16 595 subjects. Children of parents reporting both IPV and PPD (n = 88; 0.5%) were more likely to fail at least 1 milestone across the following developmental domains: language (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.3-3.3), personal-social (aOR 1.9; 95% CI 1.2-2.9), and gross motor (aOR 3.0; 95% CI 1.8-5.0). Significant associations for those reporting IPV-only (n = 331; 2.0%) were found for language (aOR 1.4; 95% CI 1.1-1.9), personal-social (aOR 1.7; 95% CI 1.4-2.2), and fine motor-adaptive (aOR 1.7; 95% CI 1.0-2.7). Significant associations for those reporting PPD-only (n = 1920; 11.6%) were found for: language (aOR 1.5; 95% CI 1.3-1.7), personal-social (aOR 1.6; 95% CI 1.5-1.8), gross motor (aOR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4-1.8), and fine-motor adaptive (aOR 1.6; 95% CI 1.3-2.0). CONCLUSIONS:Screening children for IPV and PPD helps identify those at risk for poor developmental outcomes who may benefit from early intervention.

Effects of Exposure to Domestic Physical Violence on Children’s Behavior: a Chinese Community-based Sample

“…Harmony and high familiarity in family can provide children with a sense of safety, which is propitious to the normal developmet of their psychological behavior (Fox et al, 2005). By contrast, the incidence of children’s behavior problems rise with frequent quarrel between parents, poor marital state, poor mother-child relations, and conflicts between other family members (Gilbert et al, 2013; Seng et al, 2002; Hilton et al, 2002).…”

Factors Related to Depressive Symptoms in Mothers of Technology-Dependent Children

“…Promoting the mental health of these mothers concomitantly contributes to the promotion of healthy social-emotional, cognitive, gross/fine motor development of these children by contributing to a positive home environment (Cho et al, 2008; Giallo et al, 2014; Gilbert et al, 2013; Nicholson & Clayfield, 2004). Depression compromises the mother’s ability to adequately care of their child due to irritability, sleep disturbances, difficulty with concentration, and feelings of decreased energy (Nicholson & Clayfield, 2004).…”

“…As with all infants and children, the quality of maternal-child interaction affects the technology-dependent child’s growth and social-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development (Cho et al, 2008; Giallo, Cooklin, Wade, D’Esposito & Nicholson, 2014). A young child’s (<6 years old) exposure to a parent with depression places the child at risk for delay in language, personal-social, gross motor, and fine motor development (Gilbert, Bauer, Carroll, & Downs, 2013). This compounds the already increased risk of developmental delays inherent for the chronically ill, technology-dependent child (Rehm & Bradley, 2005).…”

Cash Transfers and Child Nutrition

“…Women's exposure to IPV during pregnancy is associated with decreased birth weight (Aizer, 2011;Shah & Shah, 2010), and preterm delivery (Shah & Shah, 2010). In children, exposure to maternal experience of IPV has been linked to several health and nutritional outcomes, including developmental delays (Gilbert et al, 2013), asthma (Subramanian et al, 2007;Suglia et al, 2009), elevated total cortisol output (Bair-Merritt et al, 2011;Davies et al. 2008), under-immunization (Bair-Merritt et al.…”