Toward a cumulative ecological risk model for the etiology of child maltreatment

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to further the integration of cumulative risk models with empirical research on the etiology of child maltreatment. Despite the well-established literature supporting the importance of the accumulation of ecological risk, this perspective has had difficulty infiltrating empirical maltreatment research and its tendency to focus on more limited risk factors. Utilizing a sample of 842 mother-infant dyads, we compared the capacity of individual risk factors and a cumulative index to predict maltreatment reports in a prospective longitudinal investigation over the first sixteen years of life. The total load of risk in early infancy was found to be related to maternal cognitions surrounding her new role, measures of social support and well-being, and indicators of child cognitive functioning. After controlling for total level of cumulative risk, most single factors failed to predict later maltreatment reports and no single variable provided odd-ratios as powerful as the predictive power of a cumulative index. Continuing the shift away from simplistic causal models toward an appreciation for the cumulative nature of risk would be an important step forward in the way we conceptualize intervention and support programs, concentrating them squarely on alleviating the substantial risk facing so many of society’s families.

Oratie: Kindermishandeling Beter in Beeld

“…Ik heb lage opleiding, werkloosheid, alleenstaand ouderschap en zelf slachtoffer zijn van kindermishandeling genoemd, maar er zijn er uiteraard meer. Onderzoek wijst ook uit dat de cumulatie van verschillende risicofactoren de kans op kindermishandeling aanzienlijk vergroot (Brown, Cohen, Johnson, & Salzinger, 1998;MacKenzie, Kotch, & Lee, 2011). Als we dit vertalen naar de praktijk, dan ontstaat er echter een probleem.…”

Full Issue

“…A cumulative approach to the study of risks assumes that child outcomes are affected by the increased stress caused by additional risk factors, regardless of the specific nature of these risks (DeaterDeckard, Dodge, Bates, & Petit, 1998). Studies supporting this approach have generally concluded that developmental difficulties tend to increase with the number of risk factors (Hooper, Burchinal, Roberts, Zeisel, & Neebe, 1998;Jaffe, Capsi, Moffitt, Polo-Tomás, & Taylor, 2007;MacKenzie et al, 2011). Pioneers in this approach, Sameroff et al (1987) found that each additional risk factor resulted in an average decrease of four verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) points in the Rochester Longitudinal Study, which evaluated 215 four-year-old children from socially heterogeneous environments.…”

“…The study of individual risk factors, i.e., any situation or environmental characteristic that raises the likelihood of developing adverse outcomes, does not well represent personal experience because people tend to experience multiple risk factors at the same time (Chmura Kraemer, Stice, Kazdin, Offord, & Kupfer, 2001;Kelley et al, 2010;MacKenzie et al, 2011). A cumulative approach to the study of risks assumes that child outcomes are affected by the increased stress caused by additional risk factors, regardless of the specific nature of these risks (DeaterDeckard, Dodge, Bates, & Petit, 1998).…”

Socioeconomic and Psychosocial Adversity in Inuit Mothers from Nunavik during the First Postpartum Year / ᐃᓄᓕᕆᓂᕐᒧᑦ ᐱᕙᓪᓕᐊᔪᓕᕆᓂᕐᒧᓪᓗ ᐊᒻᒪᓗ ᐃᓄᓕᕆᓂᒃᑯᑦ ᐃᓱᒪᑎᒍᓪᓗ ᐅᓇᒻᒥᓇᖅᑐᑦ ᓄᓇᕕᒻᒥᑦ ᐃᓄᓐᓄᑦ ᐊᓈᓇᐅᔪᓄᑦ ᐊᕐᕌᒎᑉ ᓯᕗᓪᓕᖅᐹᖓᓂᑦ ᐃᕐᓂᓯᒪᓕᖅᑎᓪᓗᒋᑦ

“…practices (MacKenzie, Kotch, & Lee, 2011;Whitaker, Orzol, & Kahn, 2006). Family stress theory proposes that socioeconomic stressors indirectly affect the development of young children through the stress and distress experienced by their mother (Ewart & Suchday, 2002;Kotchick, Dorsey, & Heller, 2005;Westbrook & Jones Harden, 2010).…”