title: The Role of Parental Distress in Moderating the Influence of Child Neglect on Maladjustment.
abstract: Despite pervasive evidence of the harmful impact of neglect on children's adjustment, individual differences in adaptation persist. This study examines parental distress as a contextual factor that may moderate the relation between neglect and child adjustment, while considering the specificity of the relation between neglect and internalizing versus externalizing problems. In a sample of 66 children (33 with a documented child protective services history of neglect prior to age six), neglect predicted internalizing, and to a lesser extent externalizing, problems as rated by teachers at age seven. Parental distress moderated the relation between neglect and internalizing, but not externalizing, problems. Specifically, higher levels of neglect predicted more internalizing problems only among children of distressed parents. These findings indicate that parent-level variables are important to consider in evaluating the consequences of neglect, and point to the importance of considering contextual factors when identifying those children most at risk following neglect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, 900 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
authors.forename: Sara R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Berzenski
authors.affiliation: Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA.
authors.forename: Victoria A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Marini
authors.affiliation: Rutgers-School of Nursing, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret Wolan
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lewis
keywords: Child neglect; Internalizing problems; Parental depression; Parental distress; Parenting stress