Intra verses extra familial sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community as reported by mental health professionals.

OBJECTIVE: While the prevalence rates of sexual abuse (SA) in the Orthodox Jewish (OJ) community appear to be similar to that of the general population, community insularity has made it difficult to obtain more detailed information about the context of SA occurring. The aim of this study was to gather more detailed information regarding the occurrence of SA within the OJ community. METHOD: Mental health professionals were asked to complete an anonymous survey about each client in their current caseload who were raised as OJ and disclosed a history of SA. The survey gathered basic demographic information including gender, age of abuse onset, and the relationship the perpetrator had with their victim. Respondents also answered a qualitative question describing the nature of the abuse that took place. RESULTS: 143 mental health professionals provided information on 248 survivors of SA. For females, the majority of the abuse was intrafamilial (68%) while for males the majority of the abuse was extrafamilial (63%). Females were most likely to be abused by their brother (28.7%) whereas males were most likely to be abused by a friend or neighbor (31.7%). For females, the majority (58%) of abuse started before the age of nine. The qualitative themes that emerged highlight the severe nature of most of the abuse occurring. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the need for more age-appropriate education in the OJ community regarding SA as well as programming aimed at targeting intrafamilial SA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Neurobiology of maternal regulation of infant fear: the role of mesolimbic dopamine and its disruption by maltreatment.

Child development research highlights caregiver regulation of infant physiology and behavior as a key feature of early life attachment, although mechanisms for maternal control of infant neural circuits remain elusive. Here we explored the neurobiology of maternal regulation of infant fear using neural network and molecular levels of analysis in a rodent model. Previous research has shown maternal suppression of amygdala-dependent fear learning during a sensitive period. Here we characterize changes in neural networks engaged during maternal regulation and the transition to infant self-regulation. Metabolic mapping of 2-deoxyglucose uptake during odor-shock conditioning in postnatal day (PN)14 rat pups showed that maternal presence blocked fear learning, disengaged mesolimbic circuitry, basolateral amygdala (BLA), and plasticity-related AMPA receptor subunit trafficking. At PN18, when maternal presence only socially buffers threat learning (similar to social modulation in adults), maternal presence failed to disengage the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, and failed to disengage both the BLA and plasticity-related AMPA receptor subunit trafficking. Further, maternal presence failed to block threat learning at PN14 pups following abuse, and mesolimbic dopamine engagement and AMPA were not significantly altered by maternal presence-analogous to compromised maternal regulation of children in abusive relationships. Our results highlight three key features of maternal regulation: (1) maternal presence blocks fear learning and amygdala plasticity through age-dependent suppression of amygdala AMPA receptor subunit trafficking, (2) maternal presence suppresses engagement of brain regions within the mesolimbic dopamine circuit, and (3) early-life abuse compromises network and molecular biomarkers of maternal regulation, suggesting reduced social scaffolding of the brain.