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- Title
Psychological Maltreatment, the Under-Recognized Violence Against Children: A New Portrait from Quebec.
- Authors
Malo, Claire; Moreau, Jacques; Lavergne, Chantal; Hélie, Sonia
- Abstract
This study aims to examine psychological maltreatment (PM) prevalence, co-occurrence with other forms of maltreatment, and principal manifestations in reported and substantiated cases in Quebec between 2007 and 2010. This is a first attempt to draw a complete and representative picture of PM cases in Quebec's 16 Youth Protection Centers. This is a cohort study on the entire population of children reported to Quebec child protection services for a period covering three years after the application of the new Quebec Youth Protection Act (YPA) introducing PM as a significant motive for reporting. We examined three types of situations: (1) PM as single form of maltreatment; (2) PM in co-occurrence with other forms of maltreatment; and (3) other forms of maltreatment without PM. Results show that PM was the third motive of report for all forms of maltreatment and that it was mainly acted by police officers, while reports that do not imply PM are mainly done by school personnel. PM reports were often accompanied by one or two other forms of maltreatment, compared to those that did not involve PM. Despite having greater complexity, suspected PM cases appeared to be judged less seriously as they were less likely to receive a priority code requiring immediate action. Substantiated cases of PM often co-occurred with other forms of maltreatment, particularly with neglect or risk of neglect. With or without PM, substantiated cases generally implied a greater proportion of boys than girls for group ages 0-5 and 6-12; however, female adolescents were more numerous than males (13-18) in cases implying PM. Many possible manifestations of PM are identified in the literature and indeed in the wording of the Quebec YPA. When PM occurred alone or in combination with other forms of maltreatment, most of the manifestations identified by child protection workers (CPW) were of indirect nature in the sense that they did not directly targeted the child. Most often, a child was identified being exposed to conjugal violence, domestic violence, or conflict between ex-spouses. Denigration or spurning was the only direct form of PM identified with some frequency by CPW and in most instances when it concerns situations where PM is considered as a secondary purpose to another form of maltreatment. Our findings also suggest that these direct forms of PM are possibly underestimated and under recognized by the usual sources of reports.
- Subjects
QUEBEC (Province); PSYCHOLOGICAL child abuse; CHILD abuse; REPORTING of child abuse; CHILD protection services; MOTIVATION research; YOUTH; COHORT analysis; LEGAL status of youth; TEENAGER abuse; LAW; CHILD welfare; INVECTIVE; LONGITUDINAL method
- Publication
Child Welfare, 2016, Vol 95, Issue 1, p77
- ISSN
0009-4021
- Publication type
Article