One of the conceptual and definitional issues that has plagued the study of child maltreatment is the relationship between intention and outcome. This paper flows from the finding that the common developmentally destructive element in all forms of child maltreatment is psychological maltreatment, that the study of child abuse and neglect is the…

Objective: Mounting evidence has demonstrated a link between exposure to family of origin violence and the perpetration of teen dating violence (TDV). However, only recently have mechanisms underlying this relationship been investigated and very few studies have differentiated between exposure to father-to-mother and mother-to-father violence.…

Background: Emotional/psychological child maltreatment (ECM) is a major public health problem with serious consequences including emotional and behavioral problems. Nevertheless, ECM is an understudied area. Objectives: The aims of this review are to identify measures of ECM and to evaluate their psychometric properties and utilities. We provide a…

Objectives: Approximately one third of patients with non cardiac chest pain (NCCP) report a history of abuse, however no data exists on the prevalence of abuse among people with unexplained chest pain in the general population. We aimed to determine if there is a relationship between childhood sexual, physical, emotional abuse and unexplained…

Objective: Psychological maltreatment (PM) is a widespread form of child maltreatment both in high-risk and maltreating families as well as in the general population of parents, yet there are no intervention programs that target it directly. The current study was designed as the first step in a larger program of research concerning educating…

Objective: This paper was intended to distinguish between poor parenting and child emotional maltreatment (CEM), to inform child welfare and public health policymakers of the need for differentiated responses. Methods: Scientific literature was integrated with current practice and assumptions relating to poor/dysfunctional parenting and child…

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and characteristics of reports of emotional maltreatment (EMT) in Canada, as well as changes in these reports between 1998 and 2003. Methods: This study is based on a secondary analysis of data collected in the first and second Canadian Incidence Study. Emotional maltreatment (excluding exposure to intimate…

Objective: To develop further the understanding of emotional abuse and neglect. Methods: Building on previous work, this paper describes the further development of a conceptual framework for the recognition and management of emotional abuse and neglect. Training in this framework is currently being evaluated. The paper also briefly reviews more…

Objective: Although there is growing evidence that the emotional dimensions of child maltreatment are particularly damaging, the feasibility and appropriateness of including emotional maltreatment (EM) in child welfare statutes continues to be questioned. Unlike physical and sexual abuse where investigations focus on discreet incidents of…

Objective: Child protection, as primarily applied toward narrow corrective intervention, has been judged to be inadequate in dealing with the wide variety of forms and levels of physical, psychological and sexual violence to which children are subjected throughout the world. Concern about this state of affairs has grown as a part of a global…

Objective: Based on the data obtained through Child Protective Services (CPS) case records abstraction, this study aimed to explore patterns of overlapping types of child maltreatment in a sample of urban, ethnically diverse male and female youth (n= 303) identified as maltreated by a large public child welfare agency. Methods: A cluster analysis…

Objective: The current study tested several hypotheses about disclosure of childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse derived from Betrayal Trauma Theory [Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press]. We predicted that the duration of time from abuse to its disclosure…

Objective: In light of public concern about the dangers to young people from maintaining online journals or "blogs," this exploratory paper examines whether bloggers are at increased risk for online sexual solicitation or harassment. Method: A national telephone survey of 1,500 youth Internet users, ages 10-17, conducted between March and June…

Objective: Recent literature has emphasized the simultaneous assessment of multiple physiological stress response systems in an effort to identify biobehavioral risk factors of psychopathology in maltreated populations. The current study assessed whether an asymmetrical stress response, marked by activation in one system and a blunted response in…

Objective: The main purpose of this paper is to use the Brassard and Donovan [Brassard, M. R. & Donovan, K. L. (2006). "Defining psychological maltreatment." In M. M. Freerick, J. F. Knutson, P. K. Trickett, & S. M. Flanzer (Eds.), "Child abuse and neglect: Definitions, classifications, and a framework for research" (pp. 151-197). Baltimore, MD:…