Suchergebnisse

Using data of 775 nonresident father families and 1,407 resident father families from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, this study examined whether neighborhood disorder was associated with fathers' supportive involvement in child care. Bivariate analysis indicated that mothers and children of nonresident father families were more likely to live in disordered neighborhoods than those of resident father families. Multivariate analysis indicated that neighborhood disorder was negatively associated with nonresident fathers' involvement in child care, but not with that of resident fathers. In addition, relationship quality between the father and mother, father or mother married to or cohabiting with another person, fathers' income and alcohol dependence, and child health status were associated with nonresident or resident fathers' involvement. Policy and practice implications of the findings are discussed.

Although it is a widely used indicator, the use of substantiation in child welfare practice and research is not without critics. Much of this criticism concerns the ability of the substantiation disposition to distinguish between child protective services (CPS) investigations in which maltreatment occurs or does not occur. This study examined the relationship between substantiation and maltreatment rereporting using an analytic technique known as propensity score matching (PSM). Children with initially substantiated maltreatment reports were at significantly higher risk for rereporting than those with initially unsubstantiated reports, even after matching the two groups on propensity scores based on several demographic and case characteristics. Although additional study using PSM on other samples is warranted, this evidence supports the predictive validity of the substantiation disposition and its continued use as one factor to consider when allocating limited post-investigation services.

AbstractWe examined several aspects of attachment in marriage, including the association among attachment style, mental models of the spouse, satisfaction, affect regulation within the marriage, the stability of attachment style, and its operationalization. Fifty‐three married couples completed initial assessments, and 44 participated in a 24‐month follow‐up. Attachment style was related to positive and negative affect immediately preceding a potentially stressful event and to the mental model of the spouse. Approximately 35% of the subjects changed their attachment style rating over a 2‐year period; later attachment style was related to changes in mental models of the spouse. Categorical and dimensional measures of attachment style did not yield equivalent results. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

The current study aims to identify predictors of child maltreatment rereporting among initial neglect subtypes. The study used 16,707 investigated children in child protective services (CPS) of Illinois. A latent class analysis identified five neglect subtypes, using 11 indicators of alleged maltreatment type recorded by CPS agencies. A multivariate analysis showed that substantiation of the initial report and service receipt were common predictors of rereporting across all neglect subtypes; being Black, child age, parental relationship, and number of children increased the risk of rereporting for certain neglect subtypes. Regardless of the neglect subtype, cases with substantiation and service receipt required more effective interventions to reduce the risk of rereporting.