Despite the fact that fathers and father surrogates are disproportionately represented as perpetrators in the? most severe and sometimes fatal incidents of physical abuse and neglect, little is known about their specific? role in the etiology of physical child abuse and neglect, hindering prevention efforts. The proposed study will? conduct a series of interrelated analyses that will isolate the fathering pathways that shape a family's risk for? physical child abuse and neglect, drawing data from a national prospective longitudinal population-based? birth cohort of families across 20 U. S. cities (N=4,800 at baseline). The design of this study provides unique? opportunities as it draws from a nationally representative, rather than local problem-based, sample, and? permits the identification of fathering factors prospectively before any maltreatment has occurred, from birth? through three years of age, the period of children's greatest vulnerability to the most severe forms of physical? child abuse and neglect. Self-report and in-home observational data on physical child abuse and neglect risk? and predictors were collected from both mothers and fathers, and include data on father surrogates, permitting? in-depth examination in corroboration and comparison across informants. Four interrelated substudies are? proposed that will examine fathers' and father surrogates' roles in a longitudinal fashion across levels of? concern (i. e. community, parent subsystem, parent-child interaction), progressing from: 1) multivariate? regression analyses that control for maternal and other background factors to identify unique fathering? predictors linked to physical child abuse and neglect risk; 2) path analyses that trace the important fatherrelated? direct and mediating pathways shaping both mothers and fathers risk for physical child abuse and? neglect; 3) analyses of community factors as they are related to the parenting subsystem and shape individuallevel? fathering factors related to physical child abuse and neglect risk; and 4) multivariate regression analyses :that include non-biological father-figures as well as fathers and use longitudinal data to examine pathways to? risk. Given differing etiological processes, father-related factors will be examined differentially in their? capacity to predict young children's risk for exposure to physical child abuse as contrasted with physical child? neglect. Findings from this study will provide scientific information that identifies specific modifiable fatherrelated? pathways linked with maltreatment risk promoting the development of preventive interventions that? alter parent-child interactions away from physical child abuse and neglect risk.
| Lee, Shawna J; Perron, Brian E; Taylor, Catherine A et al. (2011) Paternal psychosocial characteristics and corporal punishment of their 3-year-old children. J Interpers Violence 26:71-87 |
| Lee, Shawna J; Kim, Jinseok; Taylor, Catherine A et al. (2011) Profiles of disciplinary behaviors among biological fathers. Child Maltreat 16:51-62 |
| Taylor, Catherine A; Lee, Shawna J; Guterman, Neil B et al. (2010) Use of spanking for 3-year-old children and associated intimate partner aggression or violence. Pediatrics 126:415-24 |
| Taylor, Catherine A; Manganello, Jennifer A; Lee, Shawna J et al. (2010) Mothers' spanking of 3-year-old children and subsequent risk of children's aggressive behavior. Pediatrics 125:e1057-65 |
| Guterman, Neil B; Lee, Shawna J; Taylor, Catherine A et al. (2009) Parental perceptions of neighborhood processes, stress, personal control, and risk for physical child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse Negl 33:897-906 |
| Guterman, Neil B; Lee, Yookyong; Lee, Shawna J et al. (2009) Fathers and maternal risk for physical child abuse. Child Maltreat 14:277-90 |
| Taylor, Catherine A; Guterman, Neil B; Lee, Shawna J et al. (2009) Intimate partner violence, maternal stress, nativity, and risk for maternal maltreatment of young children. Am J Public Health 99:175-83 |
| Lee, Shawna J; Guterman, Neil B; Lee, Yookyong (2008) Risk factors for paternal physical child abuse. Child Abuse Negl 32:846-58 |
