In response to PA-06-180 """"""""NIH SMALL RESEARCH GRANT PROGRAM (Parent R03),"""""""" we are proposing a secondary analysis study to identify risk and protective factor trajectories for maltreated youth during the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence and how these trajectories influence their well-being. The study will use data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), the first national probability survey of children assessed following a child maltreatment report. This study is of importance to Child Welfare and Substance Abuse policymakers because the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence is a significant period during which many life patterns are established. By identifying risk and protective factor trajectories for this population and understanding how these trajectories influence outcome, the proposed study will enable policymakers to appropriately choose and time intervention services and provide appropriate levels of funding for these services so that the likelihood of poor outcomes will be reduced. Because a large proportion of Child Welfare System (CWS) cases are linked to parental substance abuse which, in turn, is associated with higher risk of poor child outcomes, we plan to examine this factor in detail. This study can also make an important contribution to the substance abuse and child welfare research knowledge base because there is a lack of research on trajectories of risk and protective factors during the transition to adolescence that includes the range of risk and protective factors available in the NSCAW dataset. This study has three major aims;
Aim 1 : To identify trajectories of accumulated risk during the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence and their consequences.
This aim will help answer questions such as: Among children in the CWS, how do different trajectories of risk accumulation over time affect child outcomes? Is there a developmental effect? Aim 2: To identify trajectories of accumulated protective factors, and dependence between trajectories of accumulated risk and accumulated protective factors during the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence, and to assess the effects of this dependence on the consequences of accumulated risk trajectories.
This aim will help answer questions such as: Is there an inverse relationship between risk and protective factors? Does targeted service intervention change the risk and protective factor trajectories? Aim 3: To identify race/ethnic disparities in child risk and protective trajectories, with particular attention to racial/ethnic differences in type of child placement, and its consequences.
This study is of importance to Child Welfare and Substance Abuse policymakers because the transition from middle childhood to early adolescence is a significant period during which many life patterns are established. By identifying risk and protective factor trajectories for this population and understanding how these trajectories influence outcome the proposed study will enable policymakers to appropriately choose and time intervention services and provide appropriate levels of funding for these services so that the likelihood of poor outcomes will be reduced. Because a large proportion of Child Welfare System (CWS) cases are linked to parental substance abuse which, in turn, is associated with higher risk of poor child outcomes, we plan to examine this factor in detail. This study can also make an important contribution to the substance abuse and child welfare research knowledge base because there is a lack of research on trajectories of risk and protective factors during the transition to adolescence that includes the range of risk and protective factors available in the NSCAW dataset.
