My overarching career goal is to contribute to the well-being of children by reducing the incidence of corporal punishment and child maltreatment. My main long term career objectives are to: a) Become an independent and innovative investigator in the field of child maltreatment prevention with a focus on reducing the prevalence of corporal punishment, b) Become a leader in the under-studied area of informing, developing and testing the effectiveness of community- and multi-level interventions (e.g., media-based and targeted campaigns) designed to alter social norms related to child maltreatment risk. To advance this line of research, I will pursue the following five training objectives to develop skills in: 1) conducting ethically and culturally competent child maltreatment research, 2) qualitative research methods, 3) advanced quantitative analytic and survey research methods, 4) translational research for developing community-level, social norms interventions, and 5) academic leadership. Five co-mentors will guide me in meeting these objectives with their expertise in child maltreatment research (Dr. Murray Straus), qualitative methods (Dr. Carl Kendall), advanced quantitative methods (Dr. Janet Rice), social norms research (Dr. William DeJong), and academic leadership (Dr. Tom Farley), respectively. These mentors will provide individualized guidance throughout my career development and research plans. The research plan has three specific aims: 1) Meta- analysis and review: To assess the effects of prior inten/ention efforts to change social norms relevant to child maltreatment risk and/or parents'use of corporal punishment, 2) Qualitative study: To explore issues relevant to informing theory, instrument, and intervention development regarding corporal punishment use and child maltreatment risk, and 3) Community-based survey: To explore associations and variations between perceived social norms about corporal punishment, related constructs, and use of corporal punishment. Follow-up applications will be prepared to conduct population-level norms'assessments and to develop and test an innovative community- or multi-level intervention designed to reduce use of corporal punishment and prevent child maltreatment.
Child maltreatment jeopardizes the health of children and raises their risk for later problems such as drug use, smoking, obesity, depression, and intimate partner violence. This research will inform the development of a community-level intervention designed to shift social norms (i.e., attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors) regarding corporal punishment in order to reduce rates of child physical maltreatment and its sequelae.
