Racial Variation in Self-Labeled Child Abuse and Associated Internalizing Symptoms Among Adolescents Who Are High Risk

• NCJ Number: 216038
• Journal: Child Maltreatment Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 168-181
• Author(s): Anna S. Lau; Marissa M. Huang; Ann F. Garland; Kristen M. McCabe; May Yeh; Richard L. Hough
• Date Published: May 2006
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Through the use of high-risk youth, this study examined two questions to help guide the consideration of racial differences in parenting practices that might be regarded by some to be abusive: do youngsters across racial groups similarly experience, perceive, and label parental actions as abusive and is there racial variation in child emotional distress associated with these parental behaviors and the self-labeling as victims of abuse?

Abstract

The results of this study provide new information relevant to the debate over how to define child abuse across diverse groups. The study provided support for the notion that factors associated with race organized youth perceptions of parental behaviors. Physically and emotionally punitive parental acts may be less readily perceived as abusive by youth from certain racial groups. Asian Pacific Islander youth may be less likely to label emotionally and physically punitive parental behaviors as abusive. The findings suggest that although some minority youth may construct the notion of child abuse differently from majority group youth, the outcomes of these differentially labeled harsh parental behaviors are nonetheless detrimental across racial lines. The results highlight that youth reports of emotionally and physically punitive parenting are strongly associated with distress across racial groups. The general picture reflected uniformity in the negative emotional correlates of punitive parental behavior among African-American, Hispanic, Asian Pacific Islander, and Non-Hispanic White youth. There is some evidence that physically and emotionally punitive parenting practices may be more normative and more likely to be paired with positive relationship qualities among ethnic minority families. This study examined 1,010 Non-Hispanic White, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific Islander youth to determine whether race moderated the association between adolescents’ reports of specific parent behaviors and their self-labeling as victims of abuse and whether reports of parental behaviors or self-labeled abuse better predicted internalizing symptoms and whether these associations differed by race. Tables, figures and references