Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Child factors'
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1
Pino, Lilia Diaz. "Risk Factors and Suspected Child Maltreatment." Scholarly Repository, 2010. http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_dissertations/492.
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Maltreatment affected an estimated 794,000 children in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in 2007 (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2009). The purpose of this study was to examine the risk factors of young maternal age, parents' marital status, multiple birth, preterm birth, birth defects/disability, low economic status, and parental substance abuse related to suspected maltreatment of children 3 years of age or younger from the prospective of pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs). A cross-sectional survey design, using the Tailored Design Method, was used in this study. A convenience sample consisting of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) email registry was used for this study with a response rate of 11%. The respondents represented all regions of the United States. Seventy-nine percent of the PNP's (n=363) who completed the survey had suspected child abuse or neglect within the last year in a child three years of age or younger compared to 21% of PNPs (n=96) who did not suspect child maltreatment within the past year. The prevalence of suspected child maltreatment in the study population was 2.35%. According to the model examining child risk factors and abuse, the log of the odds of a child being abused was negatively related to preterm birth (p = .036) and birth defects/disability (p = .001). Multiple birth was positively related but not significant (p = .359). There were no statistically significant child risk factors found in the logistical regression for neglect (preterm birth, p = .180; multiple births, p = .938; birth defects/disabilities, p = .234). When examining the abuse and neglect groups together, the log of the odds of a child being abused and neglected was negatively related to birth defects/disabilities (p = .030). Preterm birth (p = .364) and multiple birth (p = .298) were positively related to the abuse and neglect group but were not significant. According to the model examining parental risk factors and abuse, the log of the odds of a child being abused due to a parent characteristic was negatively related to low economic status, with the proxy being WIC eligibility (p = .001) and a history of substance abuse (p = .031). The regression for abuse indicated a positive, yet insignificant, relationship with young maternal age (p = .129) and single marital status (p = .816). The logistic regression for neglect indicated a positive significant relationship with a substance abuse history (p = .012). The regression for neglect indicated positive but insignificant relationships for young maternal age (p = .693), marital status (p = .343), and WIC eligibility (p = .106). There were no statistically significant parental risk factors found in the logistical regression for abuse and neglect together (young maternal age, p = .263; marital status, p = .523; WIC eligibility, p = .131; substance abuse, p = .985). Findings indicated that child maltreatment is suspected by PNPs in primary care settings, and that PNPs recognize signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect.
2
Nsemukila, Geoffrey Buleti. "Factors influencing child survival in Zambia." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.318283.
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3
Freysteinsdóttir, Freydís Jóna. "Risk factors for repeated child maltreatment." Diss., University of Iowa, 2004. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/119.
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The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for repeated child maltreatment in Iceland. Only cases that had never been reported to child protection services before were included in this study (N=77 total). Each case was followed for 18 months. In all cases the first reported incident was neglect. In the study, a group of cases that had only been reported once (single incident) was compared with another group of cases that had been reported two or more times (repeated incidents). Risk factors were identified and compared on different levels according to an ecological model: 1) Demographics, 2) Parental figure problems, 3) Children's characteristics, 4) Family problems, 5) Social support. In addition, the two groups were compared on parental non-cooperation and services received. In a logistic regression model, the groups differed significantly on the following factors; the mother figures in the repeated incidents group had lower education level and the mothers in that group had more personal problems than the mother figures in the repeated incidents group. In addition, the repeated incidents group experienced more family dynamic problems than the single incident group.
4
Nicolais, Christina J. "Maternal Health and Child Behaviors as Risk Factors for Child Injury." VCU Scholars Compass, 2014. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3381.
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Evidence suggests that child behavior, parent mental health, parent supervision, and home environment conditions impact a child’s risk of injury. Vulnerable families are at greater risk for the occurrence of child behavior problems, poor health, decreased supervision, and hazardous home conditions. Consistent with a model that proposes that parent, child, and environment factors interact within the lens of sociocultural factors to predict injury, the current study aimed to test a statistical model with maternal physical health and child externalizing behaviors as predictors of child injury, and home hazards and supervision as mediators of these relations. Analyses were conducted using a nationally representative sample of 3,288 vulnerable mother-child dyads. Results showed significant relations between parent physical health and child injury, and child aggression and child injury, though home hazards and supervision did not mediate either of these relations. Further research should continue to examine the mechanisms of action in the parent health- child injury relation so that injury prevention interventions can be developed.
5
Hagen, Carol Kellerman. "Decision Making Factors in Child Caregiver Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2000. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2527/.
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This study investigated decision making factors used by child caregivers to identify suspected child abuse and neglect and collected data on caregiver training in the recognition and reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect.
Data was collected in July 1999 in fourteen north Texas childcare programs. One hundred twenty three teaching and administrative staff completed a survey based on Jacobson, A., Glass, J. and Ruggiere, P. (1998). Five teachers and five administrators chosen for convenience were read eleven vignettes describing possibly abusive situations to decide whether they were reportable or non-reportable, and to indicate factors used to make their decisions.
Administrators (50%) and teachers (13.3%) reported being unfamiliar with child abuse and neglect definitions and reporting laws. Two thirds (66.7%) of the administrators and 39.8% of the teachers had received specific training in recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect. Administrators were more likely than teachers to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Teachers often reported to program administrators rather than state designated authorities. All subjects relied on information about children, but administrators also used information about parents, with teachers more likely to make excuses for parental actions. With 110 reporting opportunities, training was cited as a factor only twice by administrators. No teachers made reports to anyone other than program administrators, a factor named deference in this study. Four of five administrators expected deference from teachers when reporting decisions were made.
Present training in the recognition and reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect is inadequate. Caregivers need additional training in differences between accidental and intentional injuries, detection of child sexual abuse and emotional neglect, recognition and assessment of injuries among infants and toddlers, and mandated reporting procedures. Further research on optimal training for accurate reporting of suspected abuse and neglect is needed. A mandate to report to authorities outside the child care center should be clarified in state law. Licensing individuals as well as programs would strengthen reporting by caregivers.
6
Hickey, Mary Beth, and Karen Eva Smithson. "Risk factors associated with recurrent child maltreatment." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2900.
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The purpose of this study was to identify factors that contribute to the recurrence of child maltreatment within a variety of families. The following discussion addresses the safety and security of children, child protective services, cultural sensitivity, and perception of poverty.
7
Burke, Danica. "Child care choices: Factors that predict a match in mothers' child care preferences." Thesis, Wichita State University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10057/2437.
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There were several issues investigated in the present study: (a) what factors are most important to mothers in choosing child care; (b) the relationship between marital status, income, education, prior child-care seeking experience and finding a match to preference of child care; (c) child-care factors that are most common in not obtaining a match, and (d) the opinion of mothers on how readily available good child care is in their community. A 19-question survey was administered to 37 mothers who were graduate and undergraduate students at WSU, living in the Prairie Woods Home Addition, or employed at the Sedgwick County Special Education Cooperative Office who have sought child care for a child within the last two years. These mothers overwhelmingly were able to secure child care of their preference for their child. There were no differences found in child-care choices among the mothers due to demographic differences. They reported that quality of the child-care program, quality of the facility or home, and warmth and friendliness of the provider were the most important factors in a child care. Interestingly, the factors of cost, location, and/or hours of operation or flexibility of child care were not top factors in finding a child care for the mothers from this sample. The findings suggest that more research needs to be done on the opinions and feelings of mothers with less education or income.Thesis (M.Ed.)--Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational and School Psychology
8
Ndlovu, Rodwell Sibusiso. "Factors influencing infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe." University of the Western Cape, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6788.
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Magister Philosophiae - MPhilAccording to a 2010 report by the United Nations, mortality rates among children under the age of five remain extremely high in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa in which Zimbabwe is one of them. Child mortality in Zimbabwe is found to be associated with the specific causes with differing factors. This thesis analyses main causes of child mortality in Zimbabwe with selected socioeconomic, bio-demographic, maternal fertility behaviour, sexual reproductive health and services delivery factors in the study area, and Zimbabwe’s progress towards reaching MDG 4&5, which is to improve maternal health and reduce child mortality. The study used secondary data from the Demographic and Health Survey Zimbabwe of 2010-11, which is a nationally representative sample of all deaths based on household interviews to assess the impact of socioeconomic factors, health care accessibility and HIV/AIDS on infant and child mortality. This is a theoretical and descriptive study which uses odds and hazard rates of analysis and also used bio-demographic variables to understand the problem by exploring the data to obtain the most plausible estimates of infant and child mortality in the past decades. The findings, to a great extent showed that, socioeconomic factors have a huge contribution to infant and child mortality rates in Zimbabwe. Preceding birth interval, family size, birth type, breastfeeding status, source of drinking water, mother education, mother income, area of residence, and father education have significant effect at univariate level, whereas, area of residence, mother education and father education were not significant at multivariate level. The finding from the study revealed that mother’s educational level is not a determinant factor of infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe unlike other studies. However, awareness about the influencing factors of infant and child mortality is vital in order to control them, so also is enlightenment on the need of birth control and family size and benefit of breastfeeding. Improvement on the socioeconomic status and empowerment of citizens most especially women will help to reduce infant and child mortality.
9
Rosenkrantz, Dani E. "FACTORS IMPACTING PARENTAL ACCEPTANCE OF AN LGBT CHILD." UKnowledge, 2018. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/edp_etds/69.
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Chrisler’s (2017) Theoretical Framework of Parental Reactions When a Child Comes Out as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual suggests that parental reactions to having a non-heteronormative child are impacted by a process of cognitively appraising information about their child’s identity and experiencing and coping with emotional responses, both of which are influenced by contextual factors such as a parent’s value system. However, some religious values can challenge parents in the process of accepting a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) child. The purpose of this study was to test a model that examines the influence of cognitive-affective factors (cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation), religious-value based factors (religious fundamentalism, parental sanctification), and gender and sexual identity on self-reported parental acceptance. Participants were 663 parents of LGBT children who submitted responses to an online survey. A Tobit regression with a single-indicator latent variable approach revealed that religious fundamentalism, parental sanctification, the control component of cognitive flexibility, parent gender, and parent sexual identity significantly predicted parental acceptance. Lower religious fundamentalism, higher parental sanctification, and higher cognitive flexibility scores were associated with parental acceptance of an LGBT child. Participants identifying as a woman or LGB parent also significantly predicted acceptance. Implications of findings are discussed.
10
Scarlett, Jane Margaret, and Bryan Anderson Wing. "Child abuse and domestic abuse: Factors in reunification." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2002. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2133.
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This study was designed to differentiate the significant demographic and familial factors found in families when reunification is successful versus when reunification fails in cases of child removal due to physical abuse and domestic violence. The purpose of this study was to identify which, if any of these factors, lead to successful reunification. Content analysis of adjudicated cases of child abuse in San Bernardino County was used to transform qualitative information into quantitative data.
11
Pineda, Ernesto. "FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CHILD WELFARE SOCIAL WORKER RETENTION." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/691.
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Child welfare social workers are excellent advocates for children in the foster care system. These children can greatly benefit from long lasting relationships as well as long term supportive relationships such as that of a social worker. The researcher took on a positivist approach with an aim to answer the research question “Do factors such as supervision, peer support, and organizational factors have a positive impact on social worker retention at a child welfare agency?” The research site was a foster family agency (FFA) located in the Southern California Inland Empire region. A self-administered survey was provided to participants. The findings demonstrated a strong positive relationship between variables such as supervision and peer support.
12
Stacy, Meresa L. "Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction Among Child Welfare Staff." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/604.
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Child welfare has been part of American society since the early 1900s and continues to play a pivotal role in response to troubled families. Although there is a need for qualified child welfare staff, the process of maintaining staff is a constant struggle for many child welfare agencies. Many states are experiencing high turnover rates within the child welfare system, and Florida has been acutely impacted. Researchers have demonstrated that the nature of the work, supervision, and other organizational factors continue to contribute to job satisfaction among child welfare professionals. Guided by the social exchange theory as the theoretical framework, which is based on intraorganizational relationships and workplace behavior, this quantitative study determined which indices of job satisfaction influenced retention among workers in Palm Beach County, Florida. It also examined how job satisfaction impacted different worker groups. Using Spector's Job Satisfaction Survey and additional demographical questions, data were analyzed to measure job satisfaction among the different worker groups (n = 18). A 2-tailed t test, analysis of variance, and multivariate analysis of variance indicated that adoption workers were more satisfied than were dependency workers in each of the 9 indices measured and that having a degree in social work did not influence job satisfaction among the different worker types. By understanding the factors related to job satisfaction in Palm Beach County, Florida, child welfare agencies can implement measures and procedures geared at increasing retention among child welfare workers.
13
Line, Elizabeth A. "Factors associated with the development of child anxiety." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.556190.
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Anxiety during childhood, although a normative experience that is typically transient and short-lived in nature, persists in a minority of children to the point where a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder may be warranted. Relatively little is known as to why some children develop pathological forms of anxiety whilst others do not. An understanding of how anxiety and fear arise during childhood is required in order to identify the processes and mechanisms through which anxiety disorders develop. The first paper presents an integrative review of how cognitive development is associated with changes in normative fear and anxiety during childhood. Consideration is given to how cognitive development is conceptualised within the literature (i.e. general versus specific measures) and methodological limitations discussed. An attempt is made to position specific cognitive abilities associated with fear and anxiety within a developmental framework and to consider trajectories and associations with anxiety over time. The second paper presents an empirical study investigating developmental differences in impact of parental controlling behaviours on child anxiety observed during a speech task. The socio-cognitive development and age of each child was considered, with particular emphasis on how children interpreted the motives and beliefs behind their parents' controlling behaviour. Controlling parenting during a 1 O-minute preparation for the child's speech task did not result in significant changes in anxiety in either age group (4-5 years, 7-8 years). When parents were less controlling, younger children showed a trend towards more anxious behaviours during the speech task. Children in each age group interpreted controlling parenting in different ways and this was a function of a general ability to interpret thoughts, beliefs and feelings of other people. Implications for clinical practice and directions for further research into the role of parenting practices in the development of child anxiety are discussed.
14
Marshall, Stephanie. "Deconstructing child care, understanding the factors impacting upon staff turnover in child care centres." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/MQ56348.pdf.
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15
Ericksen, Stephanie J. "Factors Affecting Revictimization in Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2010. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30453/.
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Structural equation modeling was used to examine how childhood sexual abuse (and other associated variables, such as family functioning and experiencing multiple forms of abuse) relates to revictimization and psychological distress. Participants were women who participated in Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women interviews, a longitudinal study that spanned six waves of interviews. Only women with a history of childhood sexual abuse were included in the present study (n=178). Experiencing nonsexual child maltreatment in addition to childhood sexual abuse appears directly related to adult sexual and physical revictimization and indirectly related to psychological distress. Childhood sexual abuse alone was not predictive of revictimization or psychological abuse. This suggests that other mediating factors may explain the relation between CSA and revictimization found in other research. Clinical implications based on the results of the present study emphasize the importance of identifying children who have experienced multiple forms of abuse as particularly at risk for future victimization. In addition, providing interventions with a focus on education and empowerment might decrease risk for future violence and subsequent emotional maladjustment. Potential future research could examine the treatment outcomes and efficacy of these interventions as well as identify those mediating factors that increase the risk for adult revictimization for those individuals who experience only childhood sexual abuse.
16
Gurpurkh, Kaur Khalsa, and Kathryn Marie Thornberry. "Factors affecting initial risk assessment following the report of child abuse to child protective services." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1994. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/951.
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Eck, Klara, and Åsa Ullén. "A child labor free Philippine : When will that be?" Thesis, Ersta Sköndal högskola, Institutionen för socialt arbete, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:esh:diva-1230.
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We have been in the Philippines where we did a research about child labor. We went to a country in South because we wanted to come home with a deeper understanding of how social work can be practiced in a developing country and to get a bigger global perspective. Child labor is a big subject and therefore we made a demarcation in our research to child labor that we could observe in the urban area Manila. To get answers on our research questions we chosen to do a qualitative study with a triangulation of methods. This means that we used different kind of data collection methods such as, interviews, observation and literature studies. To get interviews we contacted an organization that helped us with contacts on the spot. We interviewed both government and non-government organization to get a broader picture of how they are working with child labor. The observation was made all the time since there were children around us every day, begging or wanted to sell some items to us. The literature was more difficult to find because there isn’t any books about the Philippines in Sweden. What we have found out is that child labor is a big problem in the Philippines, but that it is a country with a lot of big problems for example poverty. The children in child labor come from poor families that need an extra income. The children doesn’t only work a few hours a week, they often work so much that they drop out of school. Except that the children is missing out of their education there is also a lot of risks involving in child labor. We have been researching about the children’s situations and how government and non- government organizations are working with the issue of child labor and it´s negative effects on the child’s development. We found out that both ILO and the Philippine government have programs right now to support the goal of a child labor free Philippines. We also found out that there is a big lack of trust for the government. To analysis our results we have chosen two theories, the ecological model of human development and development of psychopathology. Both theories are Western but they can be applied on the Philippines if you have the context in mind.
18
Liu, Tingting, and 刘婷婷. "Prevalence and risk factors of child victimization in China." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2012. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47849526.
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Children are among the most vulnerable to violence. A global problem, child
victimization has been extensively studied in the context of public health research.
As negative consequences of victimization are demonstrated, estimation of its
prevalence and identification of its risk factors are two major concerns of
researchers. Intimate partner violence (IPV), a worldwide prevalent family
problem in itself, is directly or indirectly demonstrated in association with risk of
different child victimizations. However, majority of previous studies on child
victimization were fragmented into clusters that center on specific forms of
victimization, primarily those involving conventional crime, maltreatment, peer
and sibling abuse, sexual violence, and witnessing of violence.
Efforts for assessing complete pattern of victimization in children emerged
only in recent years. Nevertheless, this initial development that has clear research
gaps is far from being enough. In such a context, the present study was conducted,
in a comprehensive perspective, to uncover pattern and prevalence, and to identify
risk factors of child victimization in the Chinese context. IPV was particularly
examined on its relationship with child victimization. The ecological theory and
family systems theory were integrated to build the conceptual research framework,
a family-based ecological model comprising levels of individual, family,
community, and social culture.
This study adopts a quantitative approach. Questionnaire survey was
successfully conducted among 953 parents of children aged 0-17 years old in
Wuhan, China. The respondents were identified through a four-stage stratified
sampling method. For the sake of ethical consideration and research requirement,
child victimization cases were reported by the parents. The Juvenile Victimization
Questionnaire (JVQ) was employed for measuring child victimization.
Approximately one in two children was reported having victimization. Of
these victims, the proportion of those who suffered from two or more types of
victimization was as high as half; children whose parents reported IPV accounted
for one-third. Through multiple logistic regression analyses, the hypothesis that
prior victimization can increase the risk of other victimizations was confirmed. A
series of factors in the ecological model, including IPV, were identified to have
association with child victimization. All the ecological factors were further
examined using a structured multiphase logistic regression analysis. The results of
two regression models were compared. The factors identified to be associated
with the risk of child victimization involve all four levels of the ecological model.
The finding suggests that occurrence of child victimization and IPV are associated
and share common risk factors in the family-based ecological system.
The findings emphasize the necessity of a comprehensive screening for child
victimization, and highlight cooperation between services for partners and for
children. The implications also include the application of family-based ecological
perspective in research, and the formulation of family-based systematic
prevention policies on child victimization and related family problems. In general,
the reexamination of the ecological theory with emphasis on family in this study
promotes the theoretical indigenization in China. The research findings contribute
to the scientific database on child victimization and provide valuable implications
for policies and practice of child protection.published_or_final_version
Social Work and Social Administration
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy
19
Van, Niekerk Magdaleen. "Weak states and child soldiering in Africa : contextual factors." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/53716.
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Thesis (MMil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Over the last forty years Africa has been one of the most conflict-ridden regions in the world, resulting in untold human suffering. It has been estimated that between 1955 and 1999 some nine to ten million people have died as a result of violent conflict in Africa. However, those suffering the most in these wars are not merely the defenceless victims of conflict, but also its active perpetrators. More than 120 000 children under the age of 18 years have been forced or recruited to participate in armed conflicts across Africa. Although the use of children in armed conflict is not a new phenomenon, it has never been as widespread and as brutal as during the past decade. Governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions, security institutes and the media have conducted extensive research on the phenomenon of child soldiers, specifically focusing on the demobilisation and reintegration of child combatants. Surprisingly, not much research has been conducted on why particular states are more prone to utilise these little soldiers than others. This thesis attempts to fill that gap by analysing the circumstances under which children are utilised as soldiers in Africa. This aim is divided into three subdivisions, namely to describe the type of states in which children are utilised as soldiers, to analyse the conflicts in which child soldiers are utilised, and to describe the socio-economic conditions that urge children to take up arms. An analysis of the child soldier-phenomenon suggests that it transpires in weak states. These states exhibit very distinct characteristics, including serious problems of legitimacy, the absence of one cohesive national identity, the presence of opposing local strongmen, high levels of institutional weakness, economic underdevelopment, and a vulnerability to external international forces. The weakness of these states is created by the fragmentation of social control amongst various social organisations, which is in turn caused by the expansion of the world economy from Europe and also by colonialism. This fragmentation poses immense challenges to state leaders and forces them to adopt very distinct political policies, which put certain limitations on the process of state-making. In response to this, leaders have adopted a number of social, political and economic strategies. These, together with the socio-economic conditions - specifically poverty - within weak states often create civil violence. These strategies include political centralisation, authoritarianism, ethnic politics, the manipulation of democratic processes and mechanisms, patronage politics and the manipulation of state economic structures and policies. However, in order to successfully execute these strategies, rulers need wealth-creating resources, which usually result in the exploitation of scarce natural resources. Warlords and local strongmen also exploit resources to purchase arms to combat both government forces and opposing strongmen. In addition, large international private companies cash in on the financial advantages accrued from conflict. This leads to the formation of entrenched war economies. In the end then, these wars becomean excuse to plunder natural resources for private enrichment. A very distinct characteristic of these conflicts is the widespread use of child soldiers. All the armed groups in Africa's wars, including government armed forces, paramilitary groups and armed opposition groups, are to a greater or lesser extent guilty of recruiting, forcefully conscripting, press-ganging and deploying child soldiers. However, states that utilise child soldiers all exhibit similar socio-economic characteristics. Poverty is endemic. Famine is widespread and magnifies the problems caused by war and poverty even further. The provision of medical and health care is insufficient because of the vast number of war wounded and the destruction of hospitals and clinics. This is also aggravated by the high numbers of HIV/AIDS sufferers. Schools are destroyed, educational systems are often poorly developed and illiteracy is widespread. In addition, due to years of war and civil unrest, millions of people are displaced and forced to become refugees. These socio-economic characteristics create the ideal breeding ground for the recruitment of child soldiers.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Oor die afgelope veertig jaar was Afrika een van die mees konflikgedrewe streke in die wêreld wat op onbeskryflike menslike lyding uitgeloop het. Dit is bereken dat tussen 1955 en 1999 ongeveer nege tot tien miljoen persone gesterf het as gevolg van die gewelddadige konflikte in Afrika. Maar diegene wat die meeste in sulke oorloë gely het, was nie maar net die weerlose slagoffers van die konflik nie, maar hulle was inderdaad ook aktiewe deelnemers daaraan. Meer as 120 000 kinders onder die ouderdom van 18 jaar is gedwing of gewerf om aan gewapende konflik regoor Afrika deel te neem. Alhoewel die deelname van kinders aan gewapende konflik nie 'n nuwe verskynsel is nie, was dit nog nooit so wydverspreid en so brutaal soos tydens die afgelope dekade nie. Regeringsorganisasies, nie-regeringsorganisasies, akademiese instellings, sekerheidsinstellings en die media het uitgebreide navorsing onderneem oor die verskynsel van kindersoldate, en spesifiek gefokus op die demobilisering en herintegrasie van kinderkrygers. Verbasend genoeg is nie veel navorsing gedoen oor waarom spesifieke state meer gereed staan om hierdie klein soldaatjies aan te wend as andere nie. Hierdie tesis poog om hierdie kennisgaping te vul deur die omstandighede waaronder kinders as soldate in Afrika aangewend word, te analiseer. Die doel hiermee word in drie onderafdelings verdeel, naamlik om die tipes state te beskryf waarin kinders as soldate aangewend word, om die konflikte te analiseer waarin kindersoldate gebruik word en ook om die sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede te beskryf wat kinders aanspoor om die wapen op te neem. 'n Analise van die kindersoldaatverskynsel dui aan dat dit in swak state voorkom. Hierdie state openbaar besonderse kenmerke, insluitende ernstige probleme rakende legitimiteit, die afwesigheid van 'n enkele samebindende nasionale identiteit, die aanwesigheid van plaaslike sterk leiers, hoë vlakke van institusionele swakhede, ekonomiese onderontwikkeling en In blootstelling aan eksterne internasionale kragte. Die swakhede van hierdie state het ontstaan deur die fragmentering van sosiale beheer onder verskeie sosiale organisasies, wat op hul beurt veroorsaak is deur die uitbreiding van die wêreldekonomie vanuit Europa en ook deur kolonialisme. Hierdie fragmentering gee aanleiding tot ontsaglike uitdagings vir staatsleiers en dwing hulle om onderskeidende politieke beleidsrigtings toe te pas wat weer sekere beperkings op die proses van staatsvorming plaas. In antwoord hierop het leiers 'n aantal sosiale, politieke en ekonomiese strategieë aanvaar. Tesame met die sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede - en spesifiek armoede - skep hierdie strategieë dikwels burgerlike geweld binne swak state. Sulke strategieë sluit in politieke sentralisasie, outoritêre oorheersing, etniese beleidsrigtings, die manipulering van demokratiese prosesse en meganismes, die politiek van beskerming en begunstiging, asook die manipulering van die staat se ekonomiese strukture en beleidsrigtings. Maar om hierdie strategieë suksesvol uit te voer, benodig die heersers welvaartskeppende hulpbronne wat gewoonlik uitloop op die uitbuiting van skaars natuurlike hulpbronne. Gewapende aanvoerders en plaaslike onderdrukkers plunder ook hulpbronne om wapens aan te skaf om sowel regeringsmagte asook opponerende onderdrukkers te beveg. Daarby trek internasionale private maatskappye ook voordeel uit die finansiële opbrengste wat uit konflik verkry word. Dit alles lei tot die totstandkoming van verskanste oorlogsekonomieë. In die finale analise word hierdie oorloë bloot 'n verskoning om natuurlike hulpbronne vir eie verryking te plunder. 'n Baie onderskeidende kenmerk van hierdie konflikte is die wydverspreide aanwending van kindersoldate. AI die gewapende groepe in Afrika se oorloë, insluitende regerings se gewapende magte, paramilitêre groepe en gewapende opposisiegroepe, is almal tot mindere of meerdere mate skuldig aan die werwing, gewelddadige rekrutering en aanwending en ook die ontplooiing van kindersoldate. State wat kindersoldate gebruik, toon almal soortgelyke sosio-ekonomiese kenmerke. Armoede is endemies. Hongersnood is wydverspreid en vererger die probleme wat deur oorloë en armoede veroorsaak is. Die voorsiening van mediese- en gesondheidsorg is onvoldoende as gevolg van die hoë aantal HIVNigslyers. Skole is vernietig, onderwysstelsels is dikwels onderontwikkeld en ongeletterdheid is wydverspreid. As gevolg van jare se oorloë en burgerlike onrus word miljoene mense verder ook uit hul huise gedryf en gedwing om vlugtelinge te word. Hierdie sosio-ekonomiese kenmerke skep die ideale teelaarde vir die werwing van kindersoldate.
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Harris, Gene A. "Ecological risk factors and severity of child conduct problems /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/8987.
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Xiang, Joe. "Impact of Child and Parent Factors on Homework Completion." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1592402125500247.
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Settipani, Cara Anne. "The Effect of Child Distress on Maternal Accommodation of Anxiety: Relations with Mother and Child Factors." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2014. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/273913.
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PsychologyPh.D.
Research supports a relationship between parenting behaviors and anxiety in youth, yet few studies have examined parental accommodation in the context of youth with anxiety disorders other than obsessive-compulsive disorder. Furthermore, little is known about the influence of child behaviors on parental accommodation and how accommodation relates to other parent and child factors. The present study examined the effect of child distress on maternal accommodation and the relationship between maternal accommodation and other parent and child factors in a sample of youth with anxiety disorders aged 7-17 (N = 70, M = 11.66, 47.1% males). Maternal accommodation was measured by vignettes depicting youth exhibiting high or low levels of distress in anxiety-provoking situations that elicited social anxiety, generalized anxiety, or separation anxiety. Results indicated an effect of child distress on accommodation of youth anxiety, such that mothers indicated more accommodation under conditions of high child distress. Furthermore, a relationship was found between greater accommodation and mothers holding more negative beliefs about their child's experience of anxiety. Maternal empathy moderated the relationship between accommodation and child distress, suggesting that mothers high in empathy demonstrate a greater degree of adaptability in response to child behaviors. Maternal anxiety also influenced the relationship between accommodation and child distress, with results varying based on situation type and suggesting that maternal anxiety may be associated with less adaptive responses to child behaviors. Clinical implications for the treatment of anxious youth are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered.
Temple University--Theses
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Zheng, Xinye. "The Economics of Child Labor." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2006. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/econ_diss/16.
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In this dissertation, we first develop a simple two-period model to examine the parent's optimal choice of children's time. We identify factors such as wage rate, school fees, education returns, degree of children's altruism toward their parents and the parents' discounting rate that influence the parents' optimal choice, and discuss their impacts on the optimal choice. Children's time is an important resource for rural households in developing economies, and it is typically allocated by the parents. Two basic uses for this resource are: working in the labor market and attending schools. Schooling today may make children more productive in the future. The opportunity cost of schooling is the forgone wage rate in the labor market. Allocation of children's time is therefore mainly determined by education return, wage rate in labor market and school fees. Many existing models in the literature cannot explain the coexistence of schooling, poverty and the coexistence of child labor and affluence. We extend our basic model to explain the above two paradoxes. We show that, when education return is high and the household is willing to endure extra hardship caused by the child attending school, the coexistence of schooling and poverty can emerge. On the other hand, when the wage rate for child labor and schooling fees are higher than education return, affluence and child labor can co-exist. Governments have adopted various policy tools to fight against child labor, among which the compulsory education law and free education programs stand out. Our basic model is then extended to examine how these two types of government policies may impact child labor. We show the relative performance of the two policies depend crucially on several factors, including the enforcement and the costs to the household of the compulsory education law. We use the recent Chinese experience in changing the compulsory education law to free education plan to illustrate and verify our theoretical prediction.
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Cromer, Lisa Marie. "Factors that influence the believing of child sexual abuse disclosures /." view abstract or download file of text, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1188882921&sid=5&Fmt=2&clientId=11238&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-80). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.
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Thomas, Lindsey M. "Skeletal manifestations of child abuse and associated sociological risk factors." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2008. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1146.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Sciences
Sciences
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Guhman, Kiran Kaur. "Violence within the family : risk factors associated with child maltreatment." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2014. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/5320/.
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Identification of risk factors for child maltreatment is paramount to child protection. An understanding of these factors is an important step, with implications for the design of interventions for vulnerable families. The thesis is divided into five chapters, guiding the reader through an ecological understanding of individual, familial and societal factors related to perpetration of child maltreatment. An overview of literature and thesis aims are detailed in the introductory chapter. Chapter two presents a systematic literature review of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV); the results of which highlight evidence of co-occurrence. The review recognises associated risk variables, however methodological limitations point to a gap in the literature. Chapter three focuses on parental intellectual developmental disorder (IDD). An ecological perspective is taken, examining differences in risk factors for child maltreatment between parents with and without IDD. Results highlight differences between groups, indicating that parents with and without IDD may warrant different clinical attention and support. Chapter four is focused on parental stress. This chapter consists of a critique of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), examining its applicability, taking into consideration reliability and validity, as well as its limitations. In the final chapter, the implications of the thesis are discussed.
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Hawkins, Roxanne D. "Psychological factors underpinning child-animal relationships and preventing animal cruelty." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31500.
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Despite a growing increase in popularity of human-animal interaction research, there remains a lack of understanding of the reasons why children are cruel to animals and whether early intervention is effective in preventing cruelty and neglect. The aims of this thesis were to deepen our understanding of the psychology of child-animal interactions, and to test whether targeted educational interventions improve the mechanisms which underlie these interactions. A review of the literature found that current research is heavily biased towards the positive impact of animals, identifying a need for more research into the complex web of psychological factors that impact these relationships. The systematic review included in this thesis provides the first narrative meta-synthesis of empirical research on the psychological risk factors for childhood animal cruelty and highlights a decrease in publications over more recent years, as well as a lack of high quality research. Studies have largely overlooked the fact that most cruelty in childhood is unmotivated and accidental and so further research is essential to understand how to prevent different types of childhood animal cruelty. Three studies investigated the fundamental mechanisms that underlie child-animal interactions, focusing on attachment to pets, beliefs about animal minds, and attitudes towards animal cruelty. These studies highlighted the importance of teaching children about animal sentience through education, and that educational interventions should focus on preventing unmotivated cruelty and neglect in the general population. Animal welfare education aims to promote positive relationships between children and animals, thus preventing cruelty. However, few scientific evaluations of these programs exist. This thesis evaluates a cruelty prevention education programme, 'Prevention through Education', developed by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Knowledge, attachment to pets, attitudes towards animals, attitudes towards animal cruelty, compassion towards animals, reported humane behaviour, and beliefs about animal minds were assessed at pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test using a self-report questionnaire, comparing test schools to control schools. The questionnaire was administered to 1,217 Scottish children aged 6 to 13 years. The results found that cognitive factors were influenced by the intervention, but affective factors were more resistant to change. A novel cruelty prevention iPad game that was theoretically driven and evidence based, was designed, developed and evaluated. The evaluation involved a pre-test, post-test, test-control design using a self-report questionnaire with 184 primary-school children in Scotland, UK. The results indicated a positive impact of the game on increasing knowledge about animal welfare needs and appropriate and safe behaviour towards pets, increasing children's beliefs about pet minds, and decreasing acceptance of cruelty to pets. The intervention had no impact on compassion. This study demonstrates the potential of developing interactive iPad games to promote cognitive dimensions of positive child-animal interactions. This thesis highlights the importance of evidence-based animal welfare education for early prevention of animal cruelty, and the potential of computer game-based learning to promote positive child-animal interactions. This thesis further addresses major gaps in psychological research and deepens our understanding of how to prevent animal cruelty and neglect. The findings have implications for practice and policy and will impact upon the educational strategies of organisations wishing to develop early prevention strategies.
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Horak, Alicia. "Resilience factors in low-income families with an autistic child." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/16033.
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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encompasses a group of life-long neurodevelopmental disorders. It is an enormous challenge to care for someone with ASD. The majority of people with ASD will need life-long support from family members and will not be able to function independently in society. This places emotional and financial strain on a family. There are many low-income families in South Africa with autistic children who cannot afford specialised intervention. It has been estimated that 135 000 autistic children are not getting the specialized education they need. Despite not receiving the needed support, there are many low-income families who remain resilient after their child is diagnosed. This study aimed to explore how these low-income families remain resilient. Qualitative data was gathered using in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in English and Afrikaans; depending on the participant’s language of preference. Six participants were recruited with the help of professionals in a local community in Cape Town, Western Cape. The data obtained was transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis. Lincoln and Guba’s model (Krefting, 1990) was used to determine the trustworthiness of the data. The three themes that emerged from the study were (1) parents’ response to the diagnosis of their child, (2) the resources parents found helpful in their immediate environment and (3) the specific coping skills that parents use to remain resilient. Walsh’s family resilience framework as well as the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment and Adaptation (The Resiliency Model) of McCubbin and McCubbin were used to understand how participants adjusted to their circumstance and remained resilient. This study provides a more in-depth understanding of the resilience factors of families with a child with ASD in a resource-limited setting in the Western Cape.
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Betancourt-Perez, Veronica. "CHILD WELFARE SOCIAL WORKERS’ PERSPECTIVE ON FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LONGEVITY." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/816.
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The child welfare sector has been dealing with the issue of turnover for many years and it has yet to implement effective solutions to mitigate the problem. In this study, the researcher used a post-positivist approach to examine contributing factors that affect job longevity in child welfare. The researcher reviewed literature as well as used motivation and organizational support theory to determine what potential factors influence job longevity among child welfare social workers. The researcher gathered demographic information and qualitative data from ten interviews with child welfare social workers employed by the County of Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) with five or more years of experience.
The researcher conducted a content analysis of the data and identified three common themes that influence job longevity; supervisor support, self-gratification as a child welfare social worker, and self-care. Results showed that the impact of longevity at DCFS is strongly influenced by supervisor support and self-gratification suggesting a strong desire of child welfare social workers to willingly want to do the job and that supervisor support is one contributing factor to longevity. In addition, nearly all the participants identified self-care as having a positive impact on child welfare social workers. These findings suggest that child welfare social workers need additional training's, individual time with their supervisors, and self-care to increase longevity.
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Tanner, Kelly Jane. "Selective Eating in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Child and Parent Factors." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406120154.
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Ahonsi, Babatunde A. "Factors affecting infant and child mortality in Ondo State, Nigeria." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1993. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1358/.
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Following the logic of the proximate determinants framework for child survival analysis, the study shows how the main socioeconomic inequalities in neonatal, post-neonatal, and child mortality observed in 1981-86 Ondo State were produced. Unlike most previous studies of early childhood mortality factors in Nigeria, the study explicitly investigates the linking mechanisms between key socio-economic factors and child survival. Local area infrastructural development is shown to be the main socioeconomic factor in neonatal mortality while household disposable income status along with local area infrastructural development showed the strongest impacts upon post-neonatal mortality. Household disposable income status emerged as the main socioeconomic factor affecting mortality during ages 1-4, with maternal education showing no strong effects even in this age segment where its impact may be expected to be most strongly felt. The integrated analysis demonstrates that much of the observed infant mortality advantage of residence in more developed local areas is due to easier physical and real access to modern health services and that most of the child mortality benefits conveyed by high household income status derive primarily from better home sanitary conditions and secondarily from better quality of curative and home care for very ill children.
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Littles, Meghan. "Child and Family Factors Affecting Parent-Child Agreement on a Measure of Health-Related Quality of Life." OpenSIUC, 2020. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2802.
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Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a global construct identifying the physical, social, and psychological effects of health. Measurement of HRQOL within pediatric care settings has the potential to identify physical, mental, and social health problems in order to provide prevention and intervention services. While measures of pediatric HRQOL have been developed to distinguish between the needs of children across health status groups, their utilization within non-clinical populations is largely under-researched. Currently, measures of HRQOL can be administered to both children and proxy reporters (i.e., caregivers) in order to gain a better understanding of the child’s functioning. However, research on parent-child HRQOL agreement indicates that reports are largely discrepant across raters and domains of functioning (e.g., social, physical). Previous research in populations with chronic health conditions has identified several parent-specific, child-specific, and family-specific factors that may influence the agreement of parent-child dyads on measures of HRQOL. However, research on these constructs produced variable results and indicate the need for more research into specific characteristics such as child gender, child age, sibling health status, and family functioning, as well as their combined impact. The current study explored the relationship between specific child and family factors and parent-child agreement in a non-clinical sample. A total of 58 children between the ages of eight and eleven years and their parents were recruited to complete an online survey in order to address this gap within the literature. A final sample size of 25 children were included in the current analyses. Results indicated that parent-child agreement for social, school, and overall psychosocial functioning was fair while overall HRQOL, emotional, and physical functioning agreement were good. The specific child and family factors included in the model were not predictive of these discrepancies but did yield a small effect size. These data suggest that children in non-clinical populations demonstrate fair-to-good agreement with their parents on measures of HRQOL and that both family factors and child demographic factors may be important in understanding discrepancies between reporters. However, these data indicate the need for further research to better understand the factors that contribute to parent-child agreement on measures of HRQOL in larger non-clinical populations.
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Rodgers, Carie S. "Family factors and relational aggression /." view abstract or download file of text, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9978598.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-77). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.
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Waterhouse, Jodie. "Early adversity, early psychosis and mediating factors." Thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University, 2014. http://create.canterbury.ac.uk/12860/.
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The study aimed to investigate childhood adversity in a sample of clients with first-episode psychosis. The mediating impact of dissociation and early maladaptive schemas and moderating effect of social support were investigated. The study (N = 42) assessed childhood adversity using the Parental Bonding Instrument and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Early Maladaptive Schema were measured using the Young Schema Questionnaire (Short form), the Dissociative Experiences Scale (2nd Edition) measured Dissociation and the Social Support Questionnaire assessed the quality and size of each participant’s social network. Correlational, mediation and moderation analyses were used. There were high levels of childhood adversity within this sample. Dissociation did not mediate the relationship between childhood adversity and psychosis. Some early maladaptive schemas concerned with unrelenting standards and insufficient self-control mediated the relationship between adversity and psychosis, in particular hallucinations. Social support, in terms of both quality and quantity was an important moderator between childhood adversity and psychosis. The study supports the notion that childhood adversity is a risk factor for psychosis and highlights some evidence about specific mediating and moderating mechanisms.
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Archer, Elizabeth. "Exploring the phenomenon of resilience with a child survivor of abuse." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26914.
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The purpose of this voyage is to explore the phenomenon of resilience with a South African child survivor of abuse. This research may be used to foreground elements in narrative conversations that can be employed to enhance resilience in other child survivors of abuse. The collaborator was identified using a constructivist approach of selection, incorporating the Indigenous Knowledge of the staff involved in the care of abuse survivors in a place of safety. The selection work session led to the generation of an operationalisation of the concept resilience, as well as an observation schedule for resilience specific to this environment. A 16-year-old female collaborator was identified as resilient for the purpose of this research. A number of in-depth interviews with the collaborator were conducted whilst the collaborator was in the place of safety, as well as after her move to a children’s home. Narratives about the collaborator’s life were generated and computer aided qualitative data analysis was undertaken. This facilitated the generation of networks of codes which allow for the representation of the particular resilience processes present in the collaborator. In this study the ability to adapt and utilise new environments is identified as a major factor in the collaborator’s resilience.Dissertation (MEd(Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005.
Educational Psychology
unrestricted
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Vreeken, Marcia Marie. "Child abuse factors which influence social workers' recommendations to the court to sustain a petition of child abuse." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1996. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1171.
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Nolander, Caroline Renee 1961. "Biological relatedness and early contact as factors in the severity of child sexual abuse." Thesis, The University of Arizona, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/276800.
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The present study of all cases of substantiated child sexual abuse received by a local social service agency in 1981 examined (a) the relationship of early contact between perpetrator and victim to such mitigating factors as attachment and intergenerational boundaries (b) the impact of the incest taboo on the severity of abuse and (c) a variety of descriptive variables to identify various characteristics of incestuous families and the services they recieve. Chi square analyses failed to identify differences between groups in the severity of sexual abuse. However, the sample was not similar to those reported in the literature--containing a high percentage of unemployment, prior marriages, criminal history and prior referrals for child abuse, suggesting that this sample of perpetrators did differ significantly from the general population and from the populations which have been reported in other studies.
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Cox, Kathryn Joan. "Antenatal factors in the development of disorders of sex development." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2018. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/9134/.
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Disorders of sex development (DSD) are a diverse group of conditions in which there is variation from the typical chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical developmental pathway. While much has been learnt about the genetic aetiology of many of these disorders, a significant proportion of cases remain without a definitive diagnosis. This thesis consists of a series of studies designed to look at different aspects of DSD in order to identify causes and develop better ways to assess and research these conditions in the future. Chapter 1 is an extensive literature review of normal sex development, models to describe the sex phenotype, steroidogenesis, steroid hormone structure and physiological role, classification of DSD, clinical uses of progestogens and determinants of foetal growth. An understanding of these diverse subjects is essential to consider the topics investigated. Chapter 2 presents the rationale for, and specific aims of, this thesis. Chapter 3 describes a study using the I-DSD registry, the largest international register of cases of DSD, to identify associated conditions co-occurring in DSD. 649 cases with documented consent were identified and analysed from the registry, with further information obtained from the reporting clinician where necessary. Associated conditions were reported in 168 cases (26%), overall, and when considered according to karyotype were reported in 112 cases of 46,XY DSD (24%), 27 cases of 46,XX DSD (22%), 19 cases of 45,X/46,XY (45%), and 6 cases of 45,X (75%). In 46,XY DSD, which represents the largest group of cases in the Registry, small for gestational age (SGA), cardiac and CNS anomalies were the most commonly reported associated conditions. This study strengthens the recognised association between SGA and non-specific 46,XY DSD. Additionally, the data indicate a possible association between genetically confirmed AIS and skeletal and renal anomalies. These results provide new research targets for cases in which the aetiology of DSD remains unclear. They also highlight the need for multi-disciplinary teams for management of these patients. Chapter 4 documents a clinical study investigating the association between hypospadias, one of the mildest conditions on the spectrum of DSD, and the measurement of anogenital distance (AGD). 88 boys had AGD measured under general anaesthetic during hypospadias surgery, alongside assessment of severity of hypospadias. Medical notes were reviewed for further information including birth weight, gestation and the presence of additional genital anomalies, as described by the external masculinisation score (EMS). Median AGD was found to be shorter in boys with severe hypospadias (63mm), than those with mild hypospadias (75mm) (p < 0.001). Additionally these boys were more likely to have lower birth weight SDS (-0.61) than boys with mild hypospadias (-0.42) (p= 0.013). This study is the first to show a link between severity of hypospadias, additional genital anomalies, and degree of AGD shortening. This supports the hypothesis that severe forms of hypospadias may be linked to inadequate androgen exposure in utero. Results also show that boys with more severe hypospadias have a lower birthweight, reinforcing the link between 46,XY DSD and SGA. Chapter 5 describes the use of a rat model to investigate the developmental effects of exposure to the progestogen medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) during the male programming window. It has been previously suggested that antenatal exposure to progestogens may be associated with DSD. In this study Sprague Dawley dams were injected with 75mg/kg or 150mg/kg of subcutaneous MPA on gestational days 14.5 to 18.5. Results showed that MPA exposure was associated with a shorter than normal AGD in male rats, and a longer AGD in female rats. Offspring of both sexes had reduced birth weight when exposed to MPA (control weight 5.99g, MPA 75mg/kg 4.58g, MPA 150mg/kg 4.72g). There was no evidence of an effect on internal reproductive structures, including testis weight. Chapter 6 describes studies using small vessel myography to investigate vascular function in the pregnant dams exposed to MPA in the previous studies. Low birth weight can be the result of altered vascular remodelling during pregnancy, leading to impaired placental function. It has previously been suggested that impaired placental function may be responsible for the combination of intra-uterine growth restriction and DSD. Uterine artery segments from animals exposed to MPA 150mg/kg demonstrated greater vessel wall thickness, and a trend towards an increase in internal and external diameter, with increased distensibility at higher pressures when compared to control segments. Wire myography showed that vasoconstriction in response to noradrenaline and NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) was reduced following MPA exposure. These studies do not explain the causes of reduced growth in MPA exposed offspring. The responses seen are the opposite of those seen in animals with pre-eclampsia and hypertension, and may demonstrate the protective effect of progestogens in pregnancies complicated by these conditions. Chapter 7 draws together the findings of all the studies in this thesis, to reach overall conclusions. The common theme of an association between DSD and impaired foetal growth from all three branches of this work in discussed. The potential for further investigations in pursuing this work to strengthen conclusions and inform future practice is considered.
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Stoddard, Stephanie M. "Gender-specific factors impacting upon males' disclosures of child sexual abuse." Thesis, McGill University, 2004. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=83161.
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The purpose of this research was first, to identify why males sexually abused as children under-report their experiences of child sexual abuse. Secondly, the disclosure experiences of males sexually abused as children were examined and analyzed, with a particular emphasis placed on exploring the links between low disclosure rates, gender role socialization, and homophobia. Qualitative data were gathered during semi-structured interviews of men sexually abused during childhood. Issues and themes arising during interviews were generally consistent with those identified in the literature. However, the sample size was small and additional research---employing larger samples---should be completed in order to collect further qualitative data regarding the disclosure experiences of males sexually abused as children. Despite its limitations, this research does provide valuable insight into the experience of disclosure for male victims of child sexual abuse.
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Valladares, Cardoza Eliette. "Partner violence during pregnancy, psychosocial factors and child outcomes in Nicaragua." Doctoral thesis, Umeå : Public Health and Clinical Medicine, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-578.
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Pearson, Sally Jennifer. "Factors influencing the disclosure of child sexual abuse in investigative interviews." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.396561.
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Gardner, Lea Anne. "Factors Associated with Hospital Commitment to Provide Child/Adolescent Psychiatric Services." VCU Scholars Compass, 2006. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/788.
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General acute care hospitals play a particularly important role in the delivery of children's mental health given the extant lack of alternatives to long term hospitals for patients requiring a restrictive treatment environment (Glied and Cuellar, 2003). This cross-sectional study identifies environmental and organizational factors associated with general acute care and children's hospitals in the United States that provide hospital-based child/adolescent psychiatric services and the number of services. Two macro-level theories, Resource Dependence Theory and Institutional Theory were used to identify environmental and organizational factors. A nationwide sample of hospitals was drawn from the 2003 AHA annual survey. Data from the 2002 AHA annual survey, Area Resource File and American College of Graduate Medical Education was used for the independent variables. There were three analyses, correlation, descriptive and logistic regression. Results demonstrate that hospitals in markets with a low percentage of non-white children, higher family median income, high hospital community orientation, and high percentage of not for profit hospitals are more likely to offer child psychiatric services. Organizational factors associated with an increased likelihood to providing child psychiatric services include hospitals identified as Catholic, public or children's and those with a child psychiatric residency program. Three factors were associated with hospitals providing a high number of child psychiatric services and include hospitals in metropolitan statistical areas, system affiliation, and general acute care hospitals. This study demonstrated that 1. large hospitals are more likely to offer child psychiatric services and a high number of services, 2. children's hospitals provide child psychiatric services, but not a high number of them, and 3. hospitals with a high number of service offerings are mainly located in MSA's and more likely to offer outpatient substance abuse services. Significant results were obtained in the analysis of hospital characteristics and the provision of child psychiatric services, but weaker results were observed when analyzing the number of services. Further research is needed to identify factors with stronger associations to the level of service offerings.
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Nolan, Marilyn Jeanette. "Extralegal Factors Important to Judges' Decisions in Child Abuse Custody Cases." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1203.
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Extralegal Factors Important to Judges' Decisions in Child Abuse Custody Cases
by
Marilyn J. Nolan
MS, Pittsburg (Kansas) State University, 1986
BS, Missouri Southern State University, 1982
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Human Services
Walden University
May 2015
Research has shown juvenile court judges are skeptical of mental health testimony; however there is a lack of research regarding what types of testimony by what kinds of experts are valued by judges. Using the theory of legal pragmatism, the purpose of this study was to assess how 83 Oklahoma District Court judges rated extralegal factors influencing their perceptions of the credibility of mental health expert testimony. Quantitative survey research methods were used to collect the data. Friedman ANOVAs by ranks with multiple comparisons were used to test differences across multiple characteristics, and Spearman rho coefficients assessed relationships of age and gender of judges with their importance ratings of extralegal factors. The results showed that judges preferred PhD psychologists over other mental health professionals, witnesses who drew firm conclusions, testimony in layman's terms, and citing theories accepted by the scientific community. A child's testimony and educational credentials of experts were important to younger female judges when deciding custody as was maintaining the integrity of the family when deciding termination issues. Other findings included: all judges agreed sexual abuse was the most important criteria for terminating parental rights, all forms of child abuse were important case factors that influenced judges' decisions, and disparaging parents and substance abuse by a parent were important to older male judges in their decisions. Results from this study will assist in the development of core curricula for courtroom skills training for mental health experts, paving the way for positive social change. With improved training and quality of expert testimony, judges will be more likely to use testimony from knowledgeable unbiased experts when making decisions which will benefit children, families, and communities.
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Mokoena, Mathabang P. "Risk factors associated with high infant and child mortality in Lesotho." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11510.
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This study uses the 2004 and 2009 Lesotho Demographic and Health Surveys (LDHS) to: 1) identify the risk factors that affect mortality at neonatal, post-neonatal, and child ages, and, specifically, to determine the effect of mother’s HIV status on child mortality; 2) investigate how the risk factors that affect mortality have changed between the two periods, 2000-2004 to 2005-2009; and 3) determine if the risk factors are age dependent, that is, whether the effects of risk factors vary for different child ages.
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Prewett, Johann Nicholas. "Family and Parental Factors Associated with Child and Adolescent Adjustment Problems." The Ohio State University, 1988. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1392892633.
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McIntire, Donald H. "Determinants of parenting stress : child characteristics, parent characteristics, and contextual factors /." The Ohio State University, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487687485809021.
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Ekéus, Cecilia. "Teenage parenthood : paternal characteristics and child health outcomes /." Stockholm, 2004. http://diss.kib.ki.se/2004/91-7140-033-8/.
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Craig, Eva M. "Child and adolescent obesity : prevalence and risk factors in a rural South Africa population." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2013. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5176/.
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The World Health Organization estimates that 22 million children worldwide aged <5 years are overweight and highlights tackling childhood obesity as an urgent priority. Childhood obesity is rising to epidemic proportions in the developing world, reflecting changing physical activity levels and dietary intakes, adding a significant public health burden to countries where undernutrition remains common. Interventions to prevent childhood obesity have had disappointing results, because the science and aetiology of obesity is poorly understood and prevention programmes have not targeted appropriate behaviours nor adequately engaged communities being studied. The origins of obesity appear simple, excess energy intake and/or low energy levels expended on physical activity, leading to chronic energy imbalance. However, the problem is more complex with underlying societal, behavioural and genetic causes of energy imbalance remaining unclear. Obesity is driven by individual, household and community factors: research to date has concentrated on individual factors with almost no significant focus on higher level influences on obesity. Findings from studies in developed countries are unlikely to be applicable to rural African settings where there is an increasing transition from a state of undernutrition to that of overnutrition. Few data exist on the prevalence of child and adolescent obesity from low and middle income countries like South Africa. This thesis aimed to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents (aged 7-15 years) within this population and to identify possible risk factors. Participants and Methods The study was cross-sectional and involved collecting primary data in local schools. A total of 1,519 subjects were recruited from three age groups (approximately 500 from each age group 7, 11 and 15 years). Participants were recruited from school grades 1, 5 and 9 corresponding to the ages 7, 11 and 15 years respectively. The study comprised two parts, a main cross-sectional study and a further study including a sub-sample of the participants. In the main cross-sectional study anthropometric measurements (height, weight, mid-upper arm circumference and body fat) were performed on all the participants and a lifestyle questionnaire administered (questions related to water collection, travel to school, TV watching and sport participation). The study took place in a demographic surveillance area and data collected from participants was linked with their household/community data to allow analysis of variables associated with overweight/overfat status. 150 participants were randomly selected from the main study (50 from each age group 7, 11 and 15 years) and invited to take part in a sub-sample study which included objective measurement of physical activity (7 days accelerometry) and dietary assessment (2 x 24 hour multiple pass recall assessments) on each participant. Main Findings Prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in girls than boys and was highest in the oldest age groups for females. Using the Cole/IOTF BMI for age reference combined overweight and obesity was 23% in grade 9 females compared to only 6% in boys in the same grade (p<0.01). The lifestyle questionnaire revealed high levels of water collection, active commuting and TV watching.
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Dixon, Wallace E. Jr, Natasha B. Gouge, Lauren P. Driggers-Jones, Chelsea L. Robertson, and Nicholas A. Fasanello. "Links Between Cumulative Risk Factors and Child Temperament in Early School Age Children." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2019. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/4904.
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Developmental scientists have become increasingly interested in the relationship between cumulative demographic risk and developmental outcomes. Risk has been defined as “a process that serves to increase the chances of experiencing a negative outcome in one or several domains of functioning…” (Popp, Spinrad, & Smith, 2008). Cumulative risk models are often preferred over single risk models because individual risk factors such as poverty and single parenthood are so highly correlated. Although researchers have demonstrated strong associations between cumulative risk and a variety of child outcomes, to our knowledge only Popp et al. have investigated links with child temperament, with a specific focus on infancy. In the present study we investigate links between cumulative and single risk indices and child temperament in 4- to 6-year-olds. Unlike other studies, we also consider rural status as an possible risk indicator.
Data were collected in two types of setting: a university-affiliated child-care facility (N = 33, about 52% girls) and a group of rural, county-funded preschools and kindergartens (N = 21, about 62% girls). Mean age across the two samples was 4.57 years (SD = 1.11 years). A cumulative risk index was created by summing across eight risk indicators based on 1) income, 2) marital status, 3) ethnicity/race, 4) family size, 5) maternal education, 6) maternal age at birth, 7) maternal occupational status, and 8) rurality status. Risk factors were dichotomized (1 vs 0) based on whether the family met a specific risk criterion (Table 1). Temperament was measured via mother report using the Child Behavior Questionnaire, which produced three overarching temperament scores: surgency, negative affectivity, and effortful control.
In terms of cumulative risk scores, 16 (30%) of the mothers had zero risk indicators, 14 (26%) had one, 8 (15%) had two, 9 (17%) had three, 4 (8%) had four, and 2 (4%) had five. No cumulative risk score exceeded five. Mean cumulative risk was 1.64 (SD = 1.51). As shown in Table 2, greater cumulative risk was associated with higher scores on surgency and negative affectivity but not effortful control. The most strongly associated individual risk factors were household income and rurality status, which were also strongly related to one other [r(53) = .61, p = .000]. Regression analyses revealed that rurality accounted for unique variance over and above income in both surgency (R2 = .20, p = .000) and negative affect (R2 = .42, p = .000), but not vice versa.
These results support the contention that cumulative demographic risk is linked to at least two superdimensions of temperament in early school age, wherein a driving factor appears to be a child’s rurality status. Moreover, the valence of these associations is consistent with the notion that greater demographic risk may lead to negative temperament outcomes. Both negative affectivity and surgency (at least to the extent that surgency indexes activity level and impulsive behavior) are characteristics that many would regard as contributing to temperamental difficulty. This link is notable because many researchers regard temperamental difficulty as a risk indicator for negative developmental outcomes in its own right.
Fifty-six children (26 boys) visited the lab at M = 18.3 months (SD = 0.43 months). The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ; Putnam et al., 2006) superdimension of effortful control was used as a surrogate measure of early executive function. To measure child activity level, we used the mother-reported activity level subdimension from the ECBQ, and also coded mother-child free play periods to quantify children’s predilection to use physical activity in the service of social or cognitive objectives, such as grasping a spoon and extending the arm outwards to feed a baby doll, which we termed sociocognitive activity. To measure sociocognitive activity we used a modified version of Tamis-LeMonda and Bornstein’s (1990) play competence scale wherein each instance of sociocognitive activity was noted and summed for a total score of sociocognitive activity level (See Table 1). Finally, to gauge maternal encouragement, a modified version of the Dyadic Parent Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS; Eyeberg, Nelson, Duke, & Boggs, 2005) was used to identify maternal commands, praise, questions, physical involvement, talking, touching, and scaffolding behaviors during mother-child free play sessions.
Zero-order correlations revealed a significant negative relationship between mother-reported activity level and child executive function (r = -.42, p < 0.01), replicating previous findings. However, correlations between sociocognitive activity and executive function, while positive, was not significant. We conducted moderation analyses separately for each maternal encouragement variable, and found that a higher amount of maternal questioning during play corresponded to a positive association between sociocognitive activity and executive functioning (moderator = 1.00, p < 0.05). These findings partially support our hypotheses and suggest that the ways in which caregivers direct and train activity during play through questioning strategies may also direct and train cognitive functioning. However, further research is needed to support these claims. These results also point toward issues with the measurement of activity level, as our two measures of activity produced significantly different correlations with executive functioning (z = -3.4, p < 0.01). Future research in the area of motor development as it pertains to cognitive functioning should investigate and develop a standard measure of motor activity that is capable of capturing not only simple milestone achievement and intensity levels, but also the amount of sociocognitive engagement during physical activity.
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Karling, Mats. "Child behaviour and pain after hospitalization, surgery and anaesthesia." Doctoral thesis, Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-917.
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