Fathers, Child Mental Health, and Maltreatment in the Child Welfare System

描述（申请人提供）：儿童福利系统（CWS）中的青少年面临心理健康问题和再次报告虐待的风险非常高，与同龄人相比，他们对心理健康服务的需求更大。1，2父母的特征，如抑郁，物质使用和养育行为，已被证明可以预测儿童的心理健康和再次报告虐待。绝大多数研究都集中在母亲身上，而不是父亲身上。需要研究父亲对CWS中青年的影响，以便为制定战略提供信息，成功地让父亲参与干预工作。拟议的研究将填补这一重大空白，在文献中确定父亲相关的风险因素，儿童心理健康和虐待，使用现有的数据从纵向，国家概率研究的儿童和家庭调查儿童虐待（NSCAW-II）。本研究的具体目的是：（1）描述儿童福利系统中主要家庭照顾者的男性，并将其与女性家庭照顾者和次要照顾者的男性进行比较;（2）确定父亲的心理健康和养育方式是否预测儿童心理健康结果和18个月随访时虐待的重新报告，以及这些关联是否因儿童年龄和性别而不同;以及（3）比较父亲和母亲的加权样本，了解父母的风险因素（例如，无效的养育、心理健康问题）与儿童的结果（心理健康、虐待）有关。研究结果将有助于调整现有的预防和干预计划，这些计划通常是针对母亲的，以更好地参与和解决儿童福利系统中照顾青少年的父亲。鉴于这一人群的医疗和精神健康问题的发生率很高，这些发现可能对公共卫生产生重大的积极影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Youth in the child welfare system (CWS) are at very high risk for mental health problems and re-reports of maltreatment, and have greater mental health service needs compared to their peers.1,2 Parental characteristics such as depression, substance use, and parenting behaviors have been shown to predict child mental health and re-reports of maltreatment.3-7 However, the vast majority of this research has focused on mothers rather than fathers. Research on fathers' influences on youth in the CWS is needed to inform development of strategies to successfully engage fathers in intervention efforts. The proposed study will fill this major gap in the literature by identifying father-related risk factors for chid mental health and maltreatment using existing data from a longitudinal, national probability study of children and families investigated for child maltreatment (NSCAW-II). The specific aims of the study are to: (1) Describe the men who are primary in-home caregivers for children in the child welfare system and compare them to female in-home caregivers and men who are secondary caregivers; (2) Determine whether fathers' mental health and parenting predict child mental health outcomes and re-reports of maltreatment at 18 month follow up, and whether these associations differ by child age and gender; and (3) Compare fathers and a weighted sample of mothers on how parental risk factors (e.g., ineffective parenting, mental health problems) relate to child outcomes (mental health, maltreatment). Study findings will help to tailor existing prevention and intervention programs, which have been generally designed to target mothers, to better engage and address fathers who are caregivers for youth in the child welfare system. Given the high rates of medical and mental health problems of this population, these findings may have significant positive impacts on public health.