NCJ Number
222648
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 295-315
Date Published
March 2008
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the effects of a home visiting program modeled after Healthy Families America on parenting behaviors in the first 2 years of life.
Abstract
Findings indicate that Healthy Families New York (HFNY) may lead to reductions in several types of abusive and neglectful parenting practices during the first 2 years of life. HFNY mothers reported committing one-quarter as many acts of serious abuse at age 2. Young, first-time mothers in the HFNY group were less likely than counterparts in the control group to engage in minor physical aggression in the past year and harsh parenting in the past week. Among women who were psychologically vulnerable, HFNY mothers were one-quarter as likely to engage in serious abuse and neglect as control mothers at age 2. As the targeted child turned 1, there was a consistent and significant pattern of reductions in self-reports of the frequency with which HFNY parents committed acts of physical abuse, physical and psychological aggression, and harsh parenting against their children as compared to parents in the control group. The pervasive effects on frequency identified at year 1 shifted from including both minor and serious offenses to only the more serious acts at year 2, perhaps due to new or different parenting demands and the developmental age of the child. However, notable effects emerged for specific subgroups at year 2. Data were collected using child protective service records and maternal interviews from a sample of 1,173 families at risk for child abuse and neglect and met the criteria for HFNY intervention and were randomly assigned to either in the intervention group or a control group that was referred to other services. Figures, tables, references