Roughly 75 percent of victims of child maltreatment have experienced some type of neglect. Child neglect has been widely documented as a public health and social problem, resulting in deleterious long-term consequences such as trauma-related socio-emotional problems, developmental delays, and detrimental behavioral and mental health issues. However, current research lacks an account of parental perceptions or ?construals? of different types of child neglect, nor has there been an examination of how these construals may shape parenting choices that result in neglectful or non-neglectful behavior. The proposed study aims to redefine the way we think of child neglect based on mothers' perspectives regarding their behavioral choices. An assessment of elements associated with parenting choices is a first step toward identifying modifiable determinants of child neglect to inform effective prevention. The proposed mixed methods study will use a sequential, exploratory mixed-method design and will focus on mothers involved in child protective services as a result of child neglect, as well as the social workers that serve them. Grounded in both macro-level contextual theories and micro-level decision theory, we will explore mothers' attributions regarding neglect and challenges related to parenting behavior in two phases: 1) an in-depth qualitative exploration of perspectives on supervisory and physical child neglect among the mothers and social workers, followed by 2) a quantitative study to identify salient cognitions in mothers' working memory that likely impact neglectful behavior and that are potentially modifiable.
Specific aims of this research will first be to 1) identify parental perspectives on supervisory and physical child neglect by conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with mothers (N=35) who are served by a local child welfare organization, the New York Foundling Preventive Services, along with perspectives from social workers at this organization (N=10). Then, based on study findings from Aim 1, we will 2) design and implement an elicitation survey grounded in decision theory (N=150 mothers) to identify salient cognitions in the working memories of mothers that likely shape their parenting choices surrounding the neglectful behaviors. We also will identify importance hierarchies among those cognitions relative to parental intentions and choices surrounding the two neglect domains. This approach to examining parental perspectives and their attributions for neglect gives at-risk mothers and those racial/ethnic groups over- represented in the child welfare system an opportunity to provide their perspectives on neglect. These perspectives can then be addressed in future intervention efforts designed to reduce disparities based on race/ethnicity and socio-economic status. By studying mother perspectives on contextual influences as well as using decision theory to help understand the parenting choices mothers make with respect to child neglect, we will be in a stronger position to design prevention programs to reduce neglect.
/Public Health Relevance Statement Child maltreatment, particularly the consequences of child neglect, has been widely documented as a public health and social problem, resulting in deleterious long-term outcomes. Yet little is known about how mothers perceive or construe child neglect, or about the factors that influence behavior that leads to child neglect. The proposed mixed methods research study aligns with one of the priority areas of NICHD (child maltreatment induced traumatic stress), and will use decision theory to illuminate mothers' perceptions of neglectful behaviors in the context of their child welfare system involvement, and assess factors that influence neglectful behaviors, thereby informing future efforts to prevent child neglect.
