Lecture 10 Flashcards
Stressful Events
Events that involve undesirable, unplanned, abnormal, or uncontrollable experiences that threaten our day-to-day functioning
Can be single or multiple ongoing events
Common
Single- divorce
Ongoing- neglect
Stress
Our body’s response to pressure
3 forms of stress:
Positive stress
Tolerable stress
Toxic stress
1 of 3 forms
Positive- normative, essential to development
Tolerable- noon normative, could be source of great adverszity- family member death, natural disaster, limited timing, combined w other supportive factors
Toxic- least ideal , prolonged chronic food
Sexual abuse, neglect
How Stress Affects Children
Stressful experiences are usually manageable and can enhance a child’s competence when they are:
Mild, predictable and brief
Children who are chronically impacted by a stressful environment mobilize their stress responses repeatedly
Stressful events affect each child in different and unique ways:
Hyperresponsive reactions
Hyporesponsive reactions
Over time affects child’s stress response system
1- excessive great vigilance, mistrust, poor relationships, unhelakthy choices
2- under reacting to danger. Threat- more likely to occur after frequent stress experiences, stress system is warn down
Allostatic Load
“wear and tear” on biological systems due to chronic stress
Worn tress system because of chronic stres
Stresso return o homeostasis- high chronic stress takes more to return to homeostasis- in constant stress state
Traumatic events
Exposure to actual or threatened harm or fear of death or injury
Physical and sexual abuse
Accidents
Maltreatments
Natural disasters Trauma- leads to death, injury or sexual assault, serious harm that can cause death
Directly experience, witness it- first aid responder, on tv
Autobiographical Memory and Trauma
Link between reduced autobiographical memory specificity (i.e., overgeneral memory) and trauma exposure
Autobiographical memory- past experienced even st, subjective experience leading to self development, internal working model of self ad other
Over general memory- depression, ealry trauma- cant recall past events, cant specify- respond in general
Specific memory when sad- cant do this- I’m sad when I drop my pizza- no specific event not linked to past
Could be de o avoidance- could trigger trauma- stop searching memory
Traumatic events
Often have immediate and long-term mental health consequences
1 in 4 report some form of major trauma before age 16
The “hidden epidemic”
Some experience trauama and recover
Linked to conduct problems, anxiety
Trauma is common- 25%
Hidden epidemic- so harmful and prevelant
Adverse childhood experiences
Potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years)
Also include aspects of the child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding:
Growing up in a household with:
Substance use problems
Mental health problems
Instability due to parental separation or household members being in jail or prison
Here factors may not be trauma but adverse experience- negative impact on child
Abuse, neglect and household dysfunction
Ace pyramid
Before birth have generation al trauma- inc risk of early adversity
Adverse experiences- disrupt neurodevelopement, social development, over general memory
Leading to choosing risky behaviour, resulting in disease nd death
Very common
Many lasting impacts
Inc likelihood of substance abuse, mental health
More aces- more likely negative outcome
Maltreatment
“Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.”
Falls under aces and trauma
Many go unreported and undiagnosed
The prevalence is unknown
4 types
Neglect sexual abuse physical abuse and emotional abuse
Child maltreatment
Failure to provide care
Physical sexual emotional abuse
Types of Child Maltreatment by Percentage
Child neglect accounts for ~75% of documented cases
Physical abuse: 17%
Sexual abuse: 8%
Emotional maltreatment: 6%
Neglect= most prevelant
Polyvictimization
The experience of victimization across multiple domains
Almost 1 in 5 (18%) children experience more than one trauma experience at home, school, and community
Polyvictims tend to:
Suffer more serious forms of trauma
Show the highest trauma symptom scores
More aces= more serious forms o trauama and show most symptoms
3 forms of child neglect
Physical neglect: failure to provide for a child’s basic physical needs
Educational neglect: failure to provide for a child’s basic educational needs
Emotional neglect: failure to provide for a child’s basic emotional needs
Physical A 2-year-old who was found wandering in the street late at night, naked and alone
An infant who had to be hospitalized for near-drowning after being left alone in a bathtub
Children who were living in a home contaminated with animal feces and rotting food
Educational
An 11-year-old and a 13-year-old who were chronically truant
A 12-year-old whose parents permitted him to decide whether to go to school, how long to stay there, and in which activities to participate
A special education student whose mother refused to believe he needed help in school
Emotional Siblings who were subjected to repeated incidents of family violence between their mother and father
A 12-year-old whose parents permitted him to drink and use drugs
A child whose mother helped him shoot out the windows of a neighbor’s house
3-forms abuse
Physical Abuse: Infliction or risk of physical injury as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, shaking, or otherwise intentionally harming a child
Emotional Abuse: Abusive behavior that involves acts by caregivers that cause, or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders (also called psychological abuse)
Sexual abuse: Abusive acts that are sexual in nature, including touching a child’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials
Physical abuse
Injuries are often the result of overdiscipline or severe physical punishment
Children who experience physical abuse are often described as more disruptive
and aggressive
Individuals model what they know
Emotional abuse
Extreme forms of punishment (e.g., confinement in a dark closet, verbal threats, put-downs, habitual scapegoating, belittling, name-calling)
Child witnessing domestic violence
Psychological abuse exists, to some degree, in all forms of maltreatment
Emotional- can be in any- all affect emotion and cause emotional abuse
Sexual abuse
Rarely connected to child-rearing, discipline, or inattention to developmental needs
Represents a severe breach of trust, deception, intrusion, and exploitation of a child
Includes commercial or sexual exploitation
Children’s reactions and recovery vary depending on the nature of the sexual assault and the response of their important others, especially the mother
2/3 of those who show symptoms recover significantly during the first 12–18 months
Delayed emergence of symptoms (e.g., PTSD) is becoming more recognized
“Pathogenic” Caregiver-Child Relationship
Maltreatment often occurs within ongoing relationships that are expected to be protective, supportive, and nurturing
Many children do recover or manage to cope effectively
About 1 in 3 go on to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental disorders
Maltreatment- often not one time, ongoing dynamic between child and parent
Paradoxical dilemma of child maltreatment
Children are often dependent on those who harm or neglect them
Conflict between sense of belonging and a sense of fear and apprehension:
The victim wants to stop the violence but also wants to belong to the family in which they are being abused
Affection and attention may coexist with violence and abuse
Violence intensity tends to increase over time, but in some cases, physical violence may decrease or stop
Characteristic of child that experience maltreatment
Child age child sex children w disability racial characteristics Younger children- neglect and physical older age 12- physical
Girls more likely for sexual abuse- and more likely t be family member
Disability- physical and sexual
Black, indigenous- minority child and poverty, situatoional factors and race impacts who gets reported
Relational disorders
Disorders that occur in the context of relationships and links between children’s behavior and the availability of a suitable child-rearing environment
Child physical abuse and neglect are relational disorders
These forms of maltreatment often occur during periods of stressful role transitions for parents:
Postnatal attachment period
Early childhood and adolescence; “oppositional” periods of testing limits
Times of family instability and disruption
Perpetrators of Child Maltreatment
80% of maltreatment cases are perpetrated by one or both parents
Exception: Nearly 50% of sexually abused children are abused by persons other than parents
Sexual abuse is committed more often by males (about 90% of the time); about 50% of these abusers are the child’s father or father figure.
Child neglect is committed predominantly by mothers (about 90% of the time)
Most common perpetrator pattern: female parent acting alone, typically younger than 30 years of age
Neglect- may be experiencing othe forms of maltreatment
More likely to have:
A history of learning and intellectual deficits and/or personality disorders
Self-regulation difficulties
Environmental characteristics:
Lower income families
Single parent household or living with a live-in partner
Larger families
Self regulation difficulties- inc risk of over reaching and punishment
Healthy families
Family relations are the earliest and most enduring social relationships that significantly affect a child’s competence, resilience, and sense of well-being
For healthy development children have 2 core developmental needs for their caregiving environment:
An environment supports children’s need for control and direction, or “demandingness”
An environment that supports children’s need for stimulation and sensitivity, or “responsiveness”
meet these 2 developmental needs, healthy parenting includes:
Knowledge of child development and expectations
Adequate skill in coping with the stress related to caring for small children
6. Opportunities and willingness to share the duties of child care between multiple caregivers
