Maltreatment and the school-aged child: school performance consequences.

Studies of the impact of abuse or neglect on children have focused largely on maltreated infants, toddlers, or preschool children. In this study a total of 139 school-age and adolescent children participated in a multi-model, multi-source assessment; 22 of the children had been physically abused, 47 had been neglected, and the remainder served as comparison subjects. Parent and child interviews, teacher ratings, and data from school records were used to comprehensively assess children's school performance; social and emotional development in school, at home, in the community, and with peers; and adaptive behavior in areas such as motor skills, personal care skills, and community orientation. With the effects of socioeconomic status covaried out, results showed that the abused children displayed pervasive and severe academic and socioemotional problems. Neglected children differed little from children who were neither abused nor neglected on measures of socioemotional development, but they displayed severe academic delays. Both groups of maltreated children showed unexpected strengths on measures of adaptive behavior.

Problems of maltreated runaway youth.

Research has shown that physical and sexual maltreatment precipitate runaway behavior in adolescents. However, there have been few large-scale examinations of the family, school, and personal problems of maltreated adolescents. In the present paper, an 85-item Client Information Record was completed on 2,019 runaways by shelter staff from eight southeastern states. There were significant differences in the problems reported by physically abused and sexually abused runaways when compared to their nonabused runaway peers. Runaways who were both physically and sexually maltreated were significantly more vulnerable and much worse off than those who only experienced either physical or sexual abuse. Implications for the treatment of maltreated runaways are discussed.

Maltreatment and the school-age child: major academic, socioemotional, and adaptive outcomes.

Studies of the impact of abuse or neglect on children have focused largely on maltreated infants, toddlers, or preschool children and on single subsystems of development. In the study described in this article, 139 school-age and adolescent children who had been physically abused, who had been neglected, and who had no prior history of maltreatment participated in a multimodal, multisource assessment. The authors used parent and child interviews, teacher ratings, and data from school records to comprehensively assess older maltreated children's school performance; social and emotional development in school, at home, in the community, and with peers; and adaptive behavior in areas such as motor skills, personal care skills, and community orientation. With the effects of socioeconomic status covaried out, results showed that the abused children displayed pervasive and severe academic and socioemotional problems. Neglected children differed little from children who were neither abused nor neglected on measures of socioemotional development, but they displayed severe academic delays. Both groups of maltreated children showed unexpected strengths on measures of adaptive behavior.

The empirical base for the implementation of social skills training with maltreated children.

Empirical research on the psychosocial sequelae of child maltreatment has identified numerous and severe social skills deficits in abused and neglected children that negatively affect their healthy adjustment. Social skills training programs have been successful in helping adults and nonmaltreated children improve their skills in interpersonal communication, problem solving, self-control, assertiveness, and stress management. Such training appears promising for intervention with maltreated children. Guidelines and rationales are presented for developing social skills training programs specifically focused on the developmental and situational needs of abused and neglected children.

Child abuse and delinquency: the empirical and theoretical links.

There is an association between child abuse and delinquency, but problems with study design, definition, and method currently prevent a definitive understanding of the sequences and causal relations involved. The evidence indicates that a bidirectional relationship exists between child abuse and delinquency. A framework that uses Patterson's analysis of coercive processes suggests that child characteristics, parental inadequacies, and external stressors each play a part in child abuse and delinquency.

Early identification of handicapped children: a time for social work involvement.

Early identification of handicapping conditions in children greatly enhances the possibility of treatment that may limit malfunctioning. Social work has responsibility and an opportunity to become more active in early identification.

Brief reports influence of "mentally retarded" label on teachers' nonverbal behavior toward preschool children.

Teachers (N = 12) were assigned to either an experimental (labeled) or control (nonlabeled) child. All children were, in fact, nonhandicapped and had no diagnosis or record of mental retardation. After reading a description (labeled or nonlabeled) of their child's developmental status, each teacher read their child a story. The results indicated that teachers were more immediate (i.e., showed less social distance) to children bearing the "mentally retarded" label. Implications of this finding were discussed.