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

描述（由申请人提供）：儿童福利系统（CWS）中的青少年有很高的精神健康问题和虐待的再报告风险，与同龄人相比，他们有更大的精神健康服务需求父母的特征，如抑郁、药物使用和父母行为，已被证明可以预测儿童的心理健康和虐待的再报告。然而，绝大多数的研究都集中在母亲而不是父亲身上。需要研究父亲对儿童福利院青少年的影响，以便为制定策略提供信息，使父亲成功参与干预工作。这项拟议的研究将填补这一主要的文献空白，通过利用一项针对儿童虐待调查的儿童和家庭的纵向、全国概率研究（NSCAW-II）的现有数据，确定与父亲有关的儿童心理健康和虐待的风险因素。本研究的具体目的是：(1)描述儿童福利系统中主要的家庭照顾者男性，并将其与女性家庭照顾者和次要照顾者男性进行比较；(2)确定父亲的心理健康和养育方式是否能预测18个月随访时儿童的心理健康结果和虐待再报告，以及这些关联是否因儿童年龄和性别而异；(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）与儿童结果（心理健康，虐待）之间的关系。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设计的，以更好地吸引和解决在儿童福利系统中照顾青少年的父亲的问题。鉴于这一人群的医疗和精神健康问题的高发率，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.