title: A Multisource Approach to Assessing Child Maltreatment From Records, Caregivers, and Children.
abstract: Practitioners and researchers alike face the challenge that different sources report inconsistent information regarding child maltreatment. The present study capitalizes on concordance and discordance between different sources and probes applicability of a multisource approach to data from three perspectives on maltreatment-Child Protection Services (CPS) records, caregivers, and children. The sample comprised 686 participants in early childhood (3- to 8-year-olds; n = 275) or late childhood/adolescence (9- to 16-year-olds; n = 411), 161 from two CPS sites and 525 from the community oversampled for psychosocial risk. We established three components within a factor-analytic approach: the shared variance between sources on presence of maltreatment (convergence), nonshared variance resulting from the child's own perspective, and the caregiver versus CPS perspective. The shared variance between sources was the strongest predictor of caregiver- and self-reported child symptoms. Child perspective and caregiver versus CPS perspective mainly added predictive strength of symptoms in late childhood/adolescence over and above convergence in the case of emotional maltreatment, lack of supervision, and physical abuse. By contrast, convergence almost fully accounted for child symptoms for failure to provide. Our results suggest consistent information from different sources reporting on maltreatment is, on average, the best indicator of child risk.
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Sierau
authors: 2 Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology-BIPS, Bremen, Germany.
authors: Tilman
authors: T
authors: Brand
authors: 3 Mount Hope Family Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
authors: Jody Todd
authors: JT
authors: Manly
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|4 Department of Developmental Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Jena, Germany.
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Schlesier-Michel
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Annette M
authors: AM
authors: Klein
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Andreas
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Leonhard Quintero
authors: LQ
authors: Garzón
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Keil
authors: 5 Child Protection Services Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors: Martin J
authors: MJ
authors: Binser
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Kai
authors: K
authors: von Klitzing
authors: 1 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors: Lars O
authors: LO
authors: White
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D017028:Caregivers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011996:Records; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: child abuse; child and adolescent development; child welfare services/child protection; interviewing children; neglect; psychopathology