Predicting and Preventing Neglect in Teen Mothers

描述（由申请人提供）：超过 200 万例儿童病例 虐待事件每年都有报告。 其中，儿童忽视仍然是最严重的 最大的单一类别。 该项目的主要重点是澄清 忽视作为一种建构及其在决定儿童发展中的重要性 在多个域中。 该项目涉及来自以下机构的教职员工 圣母大学、阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校、 堪萨斯大学和乔治城大学。 我们计划确定一个 560 名青少年母亲（140 名/地点）和 180 名成人的代表性样本 怀孕最后三个月的母亲（45 名/地点）。 的 青少年样本将从特定的地理区域中采集 与每个区域设置相关联。成人样本将提供基线数据 关于忽视模式和儿童发展。 产前措施 产妇预测因素（例如药物滥用、抑郁、认知准备度） 父母等）、疏忽养育、人口统计信息（例如，教育程度 和工作；婚姻状况；等）、母亲的社会情感特征，以及 适当和及时使用医疗护理将在 3年期限。 儿童智力、语言等方面的评估 社会情感发展将发生在 1、2 和 3 岁时。 一个独特的 该项目的方法论特点是使用了多种方法、多种 研究忽视作为一种结构的知情方法。 手机的使用—— 5 种测量方法之一——使我们能够与 参与者并收集有关接触频率和性质的数据 青少年与当地服务机构以及母子之间的联系， 缺乏这一点就定义了忽视。 试点数据表明 这种评估养育方式的方法的可行性、可靠性和实用性。 其他忽视措施包括母子观察、监测 夜间养育方式、自我报告和专业评估。 我们的目标是通过评估和澄清忽视的含义 通过多重评估，完善一系列评估工具；预测 通过利用产前危险因素（即药物滥用和 依赖性）；记录母亲和孩子的成长和变化 在生命的前 3 年确定是否有不同的发育 模式与早期母亲忽视有系统的联系；评估 基于社区的计划在预防或减少忽视方面的重要性 行为；最后，测试最近的通用性和实用性 开发了青少年养育的概念模型，将忽视与 使用结构方程计算产前先行变量和儿童结局 建模。 完善的忽视模型将为未来的干预工作提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over 2 million cases of child maltreatment are reported each year. Of these, child neglect remains the largest single category. The major focus of this project is the clarification of neglect as a construct and its importance in determining child development in multiple domains. The project involves faculty and staff from the University of Notre Dame, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Kansas, and Georgetown University. We plan to identify a representative sample of 560 adolescent mothers (140/site) and 180 adult mothers (45/site) during the last trimester of their pregnancies. The adolescent sample will be recruited from specified geographic catchment areas associated with each locale. The adult sample will provide baseline data concerning patterns of neglect and child development. Measures of prenatal maternal predictors (e.g., substance abuse, depression, cognitive readiness to parent, etc.), neglectful parenting, demographic information, (e.g., education and jobs; marital status; etc.), maternal socioemotional characteristics, and the appropriate and timely use of medical care will be gathered during a 3 year period. Assessments of children's intellectual, linguistic, and socioemotional development will occur at 1, 2, and 3 years of age. A unique methodological feature in this project is the use of a Multi-Method, Multi- Informant approach to study neglect as a construct. The use of cell phones-- 1 of 5 measurement approaches -- allows us to maintain contact with participants as well as gather data on the frequency and nature of contacts between the teens and local service agencies as well as mother-child contacts, the absence of which defines neglect. Pilot data has demonstrated the feasibility, reliability, and utility of this method of assessing parenting. Other measures of neglect include mother-child observations, monitoring nighttime patterns of parenting, self-reports, and professional evaluations. Our objectives are to clarify the meaning of neglect by evaluating and refining a series of assessment tools using multiple assessments; predict neglect through the use of prenatal risk factors (i.e., substance abuse and dependence); document growth and change in both mothers and their children over the first 3 years of life to determine whether different developmental patterns are systematically associated with early maternal neglect; assess the importance of community-based programs in preventing or reducing neglectful behavior; and, finally, test the generality and usefulness of a recently developed conceptual model of adolescent parenting that relates neglect to prenatal antecedent variables and to child outcomes, using structural equation modeling. A refined model of neglect will inform future intervention efforts.