Category: Journal Articles

Home Visiting Effects on Breastfeeding and Bedsharing in a Low-Income Sample

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Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C.E., Plummer Lee, C., Gilbert, R.M., McAtee, C., and Yasin, T. (2020). Home Visiting Effects on Breastfeeding and Bedsharing in a Low-Income Sample. Health Education & Behavior. 1-8.

Background
Research suggests that home visiting interventions can promote breastfeeding initiation, though their effects on breastfeeding continuation are unclear. No known studies have assessed the impact of home visiting on bedsharing.

Aims
To test the effects of home visiting on breastfeeding and bedsharing in a low-income, urban sample in the United States.

Methods
During a field trial conducted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from April 2014 to March 2017, referrals to a public health department were randomized to a Healthy Families America (HFA) program or a prenatal care and coordination (PNCC) program. Of the 204 women who accepted services, 139 consented to the study and were allocated to the two treatment groups, which were compared with each other and a third quasi-experimental group of 100 women who did not accept services. Data were collected at four time points up to 12 months postpartum.

Results
Breastfeeding initiation was higher among 72 HFA participants (88.4%; odds ratio [OR] = 2.7) and 67 PNCC participants (88.5%; OR = 2.2) than 100 comparison participants (76.5%). Similar results emerged for breastfeeding duration, though group differences were not statistically significant. Unexpectedly, bedsharing prevalence was higher among HFA participants (56.5%) than PNCC participants (31.1%; OR = 2.9) and comparison group participants (38.8%; OR = 2.0).

Discussion
Home visiting was linked to increased breastfeeding, while effects on bedsharing varied by program. Progress toward precision home visiting will be advanced by identifying program components that promote breastfeeding and safe sleep.

Conclusion
Further research is needed to examine whether home visiting reduces disparities in breastfeeding and safe sleep practices.

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Implementation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Within Foster Care: An Attempt to Translate an Evidence-Based Program Within a Local Child Welfare Agency

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Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., McNeil, C. (2015). Implementation of parent-child interaction therapy within foster care: An attempt to translate an evidence-based program within a local child welfare agency. Journal of Public Child Welfare.

This article describes an implementation project in which parent-child interaction therapy was adapted for and tested within foster parent training services. The authors recount multiple steps involved in translating an evidence-based intervention to child welfare services: (a) specifying the child welfare context for implementation and testing purposes, choosing an intervention model that responded to child welfare service needs, and tailoring the model for the child welfare setting; (b) securing external funding and initiating sustainability plans; and (c) forging a university-community partnership. The article concludes with a discussion of promising preliminary study results, future implementation plans, and lessons learned.

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Adult Resilience Among Maltreated Children: A Prospective Investigation of Main Effect and Mediating Models

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Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Dezen, K., Reynolds, A. (2013). Adult resilience among maltreated children: A prospective investigation of main effect and mediating models. Children and Youth Services Review.

Objective

Studies examining resilience to child maltreatment reveal that maltreatment victims can achieve adaptive functioning in several areas of development; however, few of these individuals persistently demonstrate resilience across multiple domains. The majority of these investigations define adjustment with a limited number of outcomes measured proximal in time to the maltreatment experience. In contrast, this study measured adjustment across a diverse set of domains during early adulthood (ages 16–24), a number of years after the occurrence of childhood maltreatment (ages 0–11).

Method

Main effect and mediation analyses were conducted. Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, an examination of 1539 minority individuals born in low-income Chicago-area neighborhoods in 1979 or 1980. Study participants were followed prospectively from birth through age 24. Maltreatment data originated from official court and child protective service records. Parent report, self report, and administrative sources informed covariate, mediator and outcome measures.

Results

Results from multivariate probit regression revealed that childhood maltreatment significantly and negatively predicted adult resilience. Exploratory and confirmatory mediation analyses showed that the following adolescent indicators helped explain the long-term association between childhood maltreatment and young adult adjustment: school moves and out-of-home placement, reading ability, acting out behavior, social skills, juvenile delinquency, commitment to school, and expectation to attend college.

Conclusion

Implications of results are explored.

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From Child Maltreatment to Violent Offending: An Examination of Mixed-Gender and Gender-Specific Models

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Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2012). From child maltreatment to violent offending: An examination of mixed-gender and gender-specific models. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Objective

Research suggests that child maltreatment predicts juvenile violence, but it is uncertain whether the effects of victimization persist into adulthood or differ across gender. Furthermore, we know little about the mechanisms underlying the victim–perpetrator cycle for males and females. Consequently, this study analyzed associations between child maltreatment and a number of adult measures of violent offending within mixed-gender and gender-specific models. Along with main effects, the study directly tested the moderating effects of gender on the maltreatment–violence link and analyzed theory-informed gender-specific mediators.

Method

Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a panel investigation of 1,539 low-income minority participants born in 1979 or 1980. Child welfare, juvenile court, and criminal court records informed the study’s explanatory and outcome measures. Prospectively collected covariate and mediator measures originated with parent, teacher, and self-reports along with several administrative sources.

Results

Results indicated that child maltreatment, ages 0 to 11, significantly predicted all study indicators of violence in the full sample and most study outcomes in the male and female subsamples. In no instance did gender moderate the maltreatment–violence association. Late childhood/early adolescence environmental instability, childhood externalizing behaviors, and adolescent peer social skills fully mediated the maltreatment–violence nexus among males. Adolescent externalizing behavior partially mediated the relationship of interest among females. Evidence also indicated that internalizing processes protected females who had been maltreated in childhood against perpetrating violence later in life.

Conclusion

Implications of results are discussed.

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Child Maltreatment and Offending Behavior Gender-Specific Effects and Pathways

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Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2011). Child maltreatment and offending behavior: Gender-specific effects and pathways. Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Objective

This study assessed the association between child maltreatment (ages 0–11) and offending behavior within gender-specific models.

Method

Prospectively collected data, including official measures of maltreatment and offending, were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a panel study of 1,539 low-income minority participants.

Results

Multivariate probit analyses revealed that maltreatment significantly predicted delinquency for males but not females yet forged a significant relation to adult crime for both genders. Exploratory, confirmatory, and comparative analyses suggested that mechanisms linking maltreat-ment to adult crime primarily differed across gender. For males, childhood-era externalizing behavior and school commitment along with adolescent-era socioemotional skills, delinquency, and educational attainment explained the maltreatment-crime nexus. For females, childhood-era parent factors along with adolescent indicators of externalizing behavior, cognitive performance, mobility, and educational attainment partially mediated the maltreatment–crime relation.

Conclusion

Implications of results were explored.

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Child Maltreatment and Adult Cigarette Smoking: A Long-term Developmental Model

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Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2009). Child maltreatment and adult cigarette smoking: A long-term developmental model. Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

Objective

To examine: (a) child maltreatment’s association with young adult daily cigarette smoking, (b) variations in this association by gender, and (c) mediators of this association.

Method

For all study participants (N¼1,125, 94% African American), data from multiple sources (e.g., child welfare records) were collected prospectively at child, adolescent, and young adult time points. Authors enlisted multivariate probit regression for objectives a and b versus exploratory and confirmatory mediation strategies for objective c.

Results

Maltreatment was significantly associated with daily cigarette smoking. Although not moderated by gender, this relation was fully mediated by adolescent indicators of family support/stability, social adjustment, and cognitive/school performance along with young adult indicators of educational attainment, life satisfaction, substance abuse, and criminality.

Conclusion

Maltreatment places low-income, minority children at risk for daily cigarette smoking and other deleterious young adult health outcomes. Recommended treatment targets include family support/stability, emotion regulation, social skills, and cognitive/academic functioning.

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Educational Success and Adult Health: from the Chicago Longitudinal Study

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Topitzes, J., Godes, O, Mersky, J.P., Ceglarek, S., Reynolds, A. (2009). Educational success and adult health: from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Prevention Science: The Official Journal for the Society of Prevention Research.

Objective

Growing evidence indicates that education is associated with health, yet we lack knowledge about the specific educational experiences influencing health trajectories. This study examines the role school factors play in the emergence of poor young adult health outcomes for a low-income, minority sample. The following research questions are addressed. First, what are the education-based predictors of daily tobacco smoking, frequent substance use, depression, and no health insurance coverage? Second, do later-occurring school factors explain the association between earlier school measures and the outcomes and, if so, what pathways account for this mediation effect?

Method

Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, an investigation of a cohort of 1,539 individuals, born around 1980, who attended kindergarten programs in the Chicago Public Schools. Participants were followed prospectively from early childhood through age 24, and study measures were created from various data sources and multiple assessment waves.

Results

Findings from probit hierarchical regressions with controls for early sociodemographic covariates indicated that elementary school socioemotional classroom adjustment and high school completion were significantly and negatively associated with all four study outcomes. Participation in the Chicago Child Parent Center preschool program predicted lower rates of both daily tobacco smoking and no health insurance coverage (p<.05). Middle school reading achievement was inversely related to depression (p<.Ol), while middle school frustration toler-ance was inversely associated with daily tobacco smoking and frequent drug use (p<.05). Also, negatively linked to frequent drug use was a high school measure of students’ expectation to attend college (p<.01). In nearly all cases, later-occurring school factors fully mediated significant associations between earlier ones and the outcomes.

Conclusion

Patterns of mediation were explored along with implications of results.

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