Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C. E. (2018). Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Findings from a Low-Income Sample of U.S. Women. Child Abuse and Neglect.
Despite great interest in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), there has been limited research on racial and ethnic differences in their prevalence. Prior research in the United States suggests that the prevalence of ACEs varies along socioeconomic lines, but it is …
Mersky, J. P., Topitzes, J., & Blair, K. (in press). Translating evidence-based treatments into child welfare services through community-university partnerships:
A case example of parent-child interaction therapy. Children and Youth Services Review.
Children served by the child welfare system count among society’s most vulnerable members given their history of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences …
Topitzes, J., Berger, L., Otto-Salaj, L., Mersky, J.P., Weeks, F., Ford, J. (2017). Complementing SBIRT for alcohol misuse with SBIRT for trauma: A feasibility study. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions.
Reducing alcohol misuse is a priority for U.S. health officials considering that misuse of alcohol is a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Consequently, health centers are routinely integrating Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol misuse within usual care. Although SBIRT is well validated among general patient samples, results have not generalized to drinkers …
Mersky, J. P., Janczewski, C. E., & Topitzes, J. (2017). Rethinking the measurement of adversity: Moving toward second-generation research on adverse childhood experiences. Child Maltreatment.
Research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has unified the study of interrelated risks and generated insights into the origins of disorder and disease. Ten indicators of child maltreatment and household dysfunction are widely accepted as ACEs, but further progress requires …
Topitzes, J., Pate, D., Berman, N., Medina-Kirchner, C. (2016). Adverse childhood experiences, health, and employment: A study of men seeking job services. Child Abuse and Neglect.
The present study explored factors associated with barriers to current employment among 199 low-income, primarily Black American men seeking job services. The study took place in an urban setting …
Janczewski, C.E., Mersky, J.P. (2016). What’s so different about differential response? A multilevel and longitudinal analysis of child neglect investigations. Children and Youth Services Review.
Differential response (DR) is a system reform that allows child protective services (CPS) agencies to divert low-to-moderate risk families from an investigative track to an alternate track that does not require a maltreatment disposition or identification of an alleged perpetrator …
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes J., Janczewski, C.E., McNeil, C. (2015). Enhancing foster parent training with parent-child interaction therapy: evidence from a randomized field experiment. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research.
Research indicates that foster parents often do not receive sufficient training and support to help them meet the demands of caring for foster children with emotional and behavioral disturbances. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a clinicall…
Janczewski, C.E. (2015). The influence of differential response on decision-making in child protective service agencies. Child Abuse and Neglect.
Differential response (DR) profoundly changes the decision pathways of public child welfare systems, yet little is known about how DR shapes the experiences of children whose reports receive an investigation rather than an alternate response…
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 interventi…
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J., Grant-Savela, S., Brondino, M., McNeil, C. (2014). Adapting parent-child interaction therapy to foster care: Outcomes from a randomized trial. Research on Social Work Practice.
This study presents outcomes from a randomized trial of a novel Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) model for foster families. Differential effects of two intervention doses on child externalizing and internalizing symptoms are examine…
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J., Reynolds, A. (2013). Impacts of adverse childhood experiences on health, mental health, and substance use in early adulthood: A cohort study of an urban, minority sample in the U.S. Child Abuse and Neglect.
Research has shown that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk of poor health-related outcomes in later life. Less is known about the consequences of ACEs in early adulthood or among diverse samples. Therefore, we investigated…
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.
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…
Mersky, J.P., Janczewski, C.E. (2013). Adult well-being of foster care alumni: Comparisons to other child welfare recipients and a non-child welfare sample in a high-risk, urban setting. Children and Youth Services Review.
Research has shown that children placed in foster care fall below population norms on many indicators of well-being. Yet few studies have been designed to distill the effects of foster care from conditions that precede foster care. Based on the availa…
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.
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…
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2011). Unsafe at any age: linking childhood and adolescent maltreatment to delinquency and crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
This study compares the effects of childhood maltreatment and adolescent maltreatment on delinquency and crime, including violent and nonviolent offending. Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a prospective investigatio…
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2011). Maltreatment prevention through early childhood intervention: A confirmatory evaluation of the Chicago child-parent center preschool program. Children and Youth Services Review.
Increased recognition of the consequences associated with child maltreatment has led to greater emphasis on its prevention. Promising maltreatment prevention strategies have been identified, but research continues to suffer from methodologi…
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2011). Child maltreatment and offending behavior: Gender-specific effects and pathways. Criminal Justice and Behavior.
This study assessed the association between child maltreatment (ages 0–11) and offending behavior within gender-specific models. Prospectively collected data, including official measures of maltreatment and offending, were derived from the…
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., (2010). Comparing early adult outcomes of maltreated and non-maltreated children: A prospective longitudinal investigation. Children and Youth Services Review.
Using prospective data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, this investigation examined associations between child maltreatment and an array of outcomes in early adulthood. Findings from bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated that…
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2009). Child maltreatment and adult cigarette smoking: A long-term developmental model. Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
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. For all study participants (N¼1,125, 94% African American), data fro…
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.
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…
Mersky, J.P., Berger, L., Reynolds, A., Gromoske, A. (2009). Risk factors for child and adolescent maltreatment. Child Maltreatment.
This study investigates associations between individual, family, and extrafamilial factors and the likelihood of subsequent childhood and adolescent maltreatment. The authors analyzed 1,411 participants in the Chicago Longitudinal Study whose…
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2009). Chronic Neglect: Prediction and Prevention.
In 2006, more than 60% of verified child maltreatment victims in the United States experienced child neglect, exceeding the official rates of all other maltreatment types combined (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 200…
Janczewski, C.E., Dutch, N., Wang, K. (2008). Crafting the Greenbook: Framers Reflect on the Vision, Process, and Lessons Learned. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Guided by research and the experiences of judges nationwide, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges made a commitment in 1998 to improve community response to families experiencing domestic violence and child maltreat…
Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2007). Child maltreatment and violent delinquency: disentangling main effects and subgroup effects. Child Maltreatment.
This study employs data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS) to investigate the relation between child maltreatment and the incidence and frequency of violent delinquency. The authors also examine if effects vary between physically abused…
Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2007). Predictors of early childbearing: Evidence from the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Children and Youth Services Review.
Using prospective data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), we investigated the effects of early childhood and school-age predictors on female childbearing, including participation in the Chicago Child–Parent Center (CPC) Program, and…