Profile of hospitalised maltreated children aged 0 to 3 years and their families.

INTRODUCTION: Maltreatment adversely affects children's health and development. Knowledge of child maltreatment in early childhood is limited. We studied the demographic factors and health issues in children aged 0-3 years who were hospitalised for maltreatment. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, health and demographic information was extracted from the electronic medical records of children hospitalised in KK Women's and Children's Hospital between January 2018 and June 2019. High-risk groups were children with developmental delay (DD), missed vaccination (MV), low outpatient attendance, high dependency unit (HDU) or intensive care unit (ICU) admission and Child Protection Service (CPS) referral. Chi-square or Fisher's exact test was used for categorical variables. Mann-Whitney U test was used for skewed quantitative variables. RESULTS: Among the 101 children included in the study, the most common type of abuse and alleged perpetrator were physical abuse and parents, respectively. In addition, 35.6% of the children had pre-existing health conditions before hospitalisation, 58.4% had new health conditions diagnosed during hospitalisation requiring follow-up and 26.7% had maltreatment-related injuries. One-fifth of the children had DDs and another one-fifth had MVs. About 20% of them had defaulted all outpatient appointments. High-risk children mostly lived in rented housing. Their mothers mostly had primary education or lower. Most children admitted to ICU or HDU were <6 months old (8/12 [66.7%] vs. 6-24 months 3/12 [25%] vs. 24-47 months 1/12 [8.3%], P = 0.001). A higher number of children with DD were referred to CPS (63.2%, P = 0.049) than to other agencies. CONCLUSION: Maltreated children have significant health needs that are not fully met through routine surveillance practices. They are at risk of defaulting their hospital appointment. It is imperative that families at risk of child maltreatment are identified early and their needs holistically evaluated, with care coordinated within the hospital-community support system.

Predictors of maternal distress among mothers in economic hardship: A classification and regression tree analysis (CART).

A recurrent observation in poverty research is the association between many attendant stress factors and the high incidence of maternal distress. In this study, we reason that such risk factors do not preclude mothers from possessing adaptive capacities, through perceived parenting efficacy and family hardiness, as buffers against two common distress sources in low socioeconomic status (SES) households-perceived children's emotional and behavioral problems, and family's economic hardship. Using classification and regression tree analysis, we examined the moderating roles of these maternal factors in emotional distress with 513 Singaporean mothers of elementary school-age children on government financial scheme. The study affirmed that this low-resource population is not homogeneous in their perceived levels of distress and adaptive resources. These factors moderated mothers' distress along different pathways. Parenting efficacy emerged as the most important predictor across different maternal distress levels. Perceived family hardiness behaved in a unique way, evident only with mothers who reported moderate-severe distress levels. Almost half the respondents reported normal-mild distress levels. Economic hardship did not emerge as a significant predictor. The findings reiterate the usefulness of attending to both situation-specific personal efficacy beliefs and trait-like family hardiness in their potential values to buffer mothers living under economic strain. Research and practice implications were identified. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying Positive Adaptive Pathways in Low-Income Families in Singapore: Protocol for Sequential, Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Design.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to examine the adaptive process of children and mothers from multistressed low-income families in Singapore. It aims to bridge the knowledge gap left by existing poverty studies, which are predominately risk focused. Through a sequential longitudinal mixed-methods design, we will differentiate children and mothers who demonstrate varied social, developmental, and mental health trajectories of outcomes. Through utilizing the Latent Growth Curve Model (LGCM), we aim to detect the development and changes of the positive Family Agency and adaptive capacities of these families over time. The construct of Family Agency is underpinned by the theoretical guidance from the Social Relational Theory, which examines child agency, parent agency, relational agency, and the interactions among these members. It is hypothesized that positive Family Agency within low-income families may lead to better outcomes. The key research questions include whether the extent of positive Family Agency mediates the relationship among financial stress, resource utilization, home environment, and parental stress. OBJECTIVE: The study elucidates the Family Agency construct through interviews with mother-child dyads. It also aims to understand how financial stress and resources are differentially related to home environment, parent stress, and parent and child outcomes. METHODS: In phase 1, 60 mother-child dyads from families receiving government financial assistance and with children aged between 7 and 12 years will be recruited. In-depth interviews will be conducted separately with mothers and children. On the basis of 120 interviews, a measurement for the construct of Family Agency will be developed and will be pilot tested. In phase 2a, a longitudinal survey will be conducted over 3 time points from 800 mother-child dyads. The 3 waves of survey results will be analyzed by LGCM to identify the trajectories of adaptation pathways of these low-income families. In addition, 10 focus groups with up to 15 participants in each will be conducted to validate the LGCM results. RESULTS: This project is funded by the Social Science Research Thematic Grant (Singapore). The recruitment of 60 mother-child dyads has been achieved. Data collection will commence once the amendment to the protocol has been approved by the Institutional Review Board. Analysis of phase 1 data will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2019, and the first set of results is expected to be submitted for publication by the second quarter of 2019. Phase 2 implementation will commence in the second quarter of 2019, and the project end date is in May 2021. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study can potentially inform social policy and programs as it refines the understanding of low-income families by distinguishing trajectories of adaptive capacities so that policies and interventions can be targeted in enhancing the adaptive pathways of low-income families with children. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/11629.

Student perceptions of self-efficacy and teacher support for learning in fostering youth competencies: Roles of affective and cognitive engagement.

INTRODUCTION: This exploratory study extends research on student engagement by examining the relationships between its different facets, students' perception of teacher support for learning and self-efficacy, and adaptive youth competencies. Guided by Reschly and Christenson's (2012) student engagement framework, affective and cognitive engagement were posited to mediate the relationships between students' perceived beliefs, adaptive competencies and behavior engagement. METHOD: 3776 Singapore Grade 7 and 8 students completed a self report survey questionnaire. RESULTS: Self-efficacy and teacher support demonstrated different indirect relationships with student competencies and via different engagement pathways. Cognitive engagement mediated the effects of teacher support and self-efficacy on the four student competencies, while affective engagement's mediated effects was only evident on academic buoyancy. CONCLUSION: This study holds important implications for educational and psychological research on student engagement, demonstrating that the construct, though theorized in a western context, has empirical utility and relevance in an East Asian context.

Moderating effect of child's autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis on benefit finding and negative affect of parents.

Substantial empirical evidence has highlighted the psychological stress and negative well-being of parents whose children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It also indicated a need for understanding the mechanisms through which parents come to successfully meet the challenges of caregiving for these children whose condition are often characterized by persistent behavioral, social, and communication problems. This study seeks to explore the relationships between benefit finding and parental well-being and aims to bridge the research gaps in 3 ways. First, it seeks to examine the nature of relationships between benefit finding and parent positive and negative affect among parents whose children have ASD or other special needs. Second, we posit that this relationship would be moderated by the presence of ASD in the child. Third, we hypothesize that this moderation may vary with the children's age. Three hundred and 2 parents responded to a self-report questionnaire. Specifically, for parents of children who are non-ASD, higher levels of perceived benefit finding were found to be associated with lower levels of negative affect, and this holds for those with young children below 7 years of age. For parents having a child with ASD, perceiving high or low levels of benefit did not mitigate their negative feelings regardless of the child's age. The latter findings on the moderating effect of ASD diagnosis were unexpected and inconsistent with current research indications. These were discussed in the light of the literature, with potential implications for future research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record

Parenting self-efficacy beliefs in parents of children with autism: Perspectives from Singapore.

Substantial empirical evidence has highlighted the psychological stress and negative well-being of parents whose children are diagnosed with autism. It has further indicated a need for understanding the mechanisms through which these parents come to successfully meet the challenges of caregiving for these children whose condition are often characterized by persistent behavioral, social, and communication problems. This qualitative study aims to bridge the research gap in 3 ways. First, we sought to understand the ways in which mothers of children having autism foster their parenting self-efficacy (PSE) when caring for their child. Second, we sought to identify additional PSE sources. Third, we attempted to understand how these mothers successfully manage negative experiences that were often in the way of their parenting efforts. Ten mothers with children between 7 and 9 years of age were interviewed. Bandura's social-cognitive framework guided the analyses of the sources of PSE (Bandura, 1997). Mastery experiences were identified as the most critical PSE source, and the physiological and affective states of the mothers were second most important in shaping their PSE. Vicarious experiences and verbal persuasion did not emerge as salient sources. "Support in parenting" was also found to be significant in fostering the mothers' perceived capability. Furthermore, we noted that while multiple negative experiences were encountered, these mothers tended to frame their experiences in adaptive ways to allow them to use these as feedback for subsequent parenting endeavors to booster their perceived capability. Implications for future research were discussed in the light of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record

The impact of shyness on problematic internet use: the role of loneliness.

In recent years, research indicated that the problematic effects of Internet use must be examined together with individual differences present in its users with which such effects are contingent. This study examined loneliness in adolescents as a mediator of the relationship between shyness and their generalized problematic Internet use (PIU). A total of 1469 adolescents (48.5% male, 51.5% female) from Grade 8 and Grade 9 classes participated in this study. Using the Social Reticence Scale (SRS), the revised UCLA Loneliness scale and the Generalized Problematic Internet Use scale, initial findings indicated significant correlations among the three variables. Results from the study further revealed that loneliness completely mediated the relationship between shyness and generalized problematic Internet use. Implications for intervention work addressing both loneliness and shyness issues facing adolescents who are problematic users of the Internet were discussed.

Cross-cultural invariance of the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory: adolescent samples from Canada and Singapore.

We provide further evidence for the two-factor structure of the 9-item Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI) using confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 289 Canadian adolescents and 310 Singaporean adolescents. Examination of measurement invariance tests the assumption that the model underlying a set of scores is directly comparable across groups. This study also examined the cross-cultural validity of the AESI using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis across both the Canadian and Singaporean adolescent samples. The results suggested cross-cultural invariance of form, factor loadings, and factor variances and covariances of the AESI across both samples. Evidence of AESI's convergent and discriminant validity was also reported. Findings from t-tests revealed that Singaporean adolescents reported a significantly higher level of academic stress arising from self expectations, other expectations, and overall academic stress, compared to Canadian adolescents. Also, a larger cross-cultural effect was associated with academic stress arising from other expectations compared with academic stress arising from self expectations.

Validation of the Adolescent Concerns Measure (ACM): evidence from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

This article reports the development and initial validation of scores obtained from the Adolescent Concerns Measure (ACM), a scale which assesses concerns of Asian adolescent students. In Study 1, findings from exploratory factor analysis using 619 adolescents suggested a 24-item scale with four correlated factors--Family Concerns (9 items), Peer Concerns (5 items), Personal Concerns (6 items), and School Concerns (4 items). Initial estimates of convergent validity for ACM scores were also reported. The four-factor structure of ACM scores derived from Study 1 was confirmed via confirmatory factor analysis in Study 2 using a two-fold cross-validation procedure with a separate sample of 811 adolescents. Support was found for both the multidimensional and hierarchical models of adolescent concerns using the ACM. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability estimates were adequate for research purposes. ACM scores show promise as a reliable and potentially valid measure of Asian adolescents' concerns.

Gender differences in adolescent concerns and emotional well-being: perceptions of Singaporean adolescent students.

Although much has been written about adolescent adjustment and coping in Western countries, relatively little is known about similar issues in Asia. The authors examined the emotional adjustment of young adolescents in Singapore. They report adolescent concerns and how they influence adaptive functioning and emotional well-being. Data were obtained from three self-report measures: the Adolescent Concerns Measure (R. P Ang, W. H. Chong, V. S. Huan, & L. S. Yeo, in press), selected scales of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children Personality Self-Report (C. R. Reynolds & R. W. Kamphaus, 1998), and the Emotional Distress Scale of the Reynolds Adolescent Adjustment Screening Inventory (W. M. Reynolds, 2001). Emotional well-being emerged as a dominant concern for Singaporean youths with significant gender differences. Girls reported a more positive attitude toward school, better friendship skills, and stronger relationships with parents than did boys. However, girls registered significantly greater worries about self and emotional distress compared to boys. The authors discuss implications for teachers and mental health professionals.

The influence of dispositional optimism and gender on adolescents' perception of academic stress.

This study investigated the role of optimism together with gender, on students' perception of academic stress. Four hundred and thirty secondary school students from Singapore participated in this study and data were collected using two self-report measures: the Life Orientation Test and the Academic Expectation Stress Inventory. Results revealed a significant negative relationship between optimism and academic stress in students. Gender was not a significant predictor of academic stress and no two-way interactions were found between optimism and gender of the participants. Possible explanations for the results were suggested and implications of the findings were discussed.