TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Psychosocial and cognitive functioning of children with specific profiles of maltreatment
JO  - Child abuse and neglect
A1  - Pears, Katherine C.
A1  - Kim, Hyoun K.
A1  - Fisher, Philip A.
SP  - 958
EP  - 971
VL  - 32
IS  - 10
N2  - OBJECTIVE: Up to 90% of child welfare system cases involve multiple types of maltreatment; however, studies have rarely incorporated multiple dimensions of maltreatment. The present study employed a latent profile analysis to identify naturally occurring subgroups of children who had experienced maltreatment. METHODS: Reports of maltreatment incidents for 117 preschool-aged foster children were classified along two dimensions: type (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, supervisory neglect, or emotional maltreatment) and severity within type. RESULTS: The analyses revealed four distinct profiles showing moderate to high levels of maltreatment: (a) supervisory neglect/emotional maltreatment; (b) sexual abuse/emotional maltreatment/neglect (when not otherwise specified neglect refers to both supervisory and physical neglect); (c) physical abuse/emotional maltreatment/neglect; and (d) sexual abuse/physical abuse/emotional maltreatment/neglect. Profile membership was examined with respect to the children's cognitive functioning and externalizing and internalizing problems: lower cognitive functioning was related to profiles with neglect or physical abuse (or both), externalizing was highest in the sexual abuse/physical abuse/emotional maltreatment/neglect profile, and internalizing was highest in the profiles with physical or sexual abuse (or both). CONCLUSIONS: There appear to be distinct profiles of maltreatment among preschoolers that have differential associations to measures of adjustment. Policy and practice implications and future research directions are discussed. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Using different profiles of maltreatment to understand specific vulnerabilities may guide in tailoring interventions to the needs of maltreated children.    <p></p>    <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0145-2134
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.12.009
ID  - ref1
ER  -