The Role of Physiological Regulation in Understanding the Influence of Child Abuse Potential on Children’s Behavioral Problems

Authors

  • Julie Schatz-Stevens Aquinas College
  • Bethany Cockburn Department of Management & Organizations Henry B. Tippie College of Business The University of Iowa W317 John Pappajohn Business Building Iowa City, IA 52242
  • Jennifer Burke Lefever University of Notre Dame

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55370/hsdialog.v18i2.313

Keywords:

maltreatment risk, physiological regulation, behavioral problems

Abstract

The current projectinvestigated the role of toddlers’ physiological regulation at 24 months in therelationship between prenatal maltreatment risk and internalizing andexternalizing problems at age 3 using a sample of 249 primiparious mothers andtheir first-born children. Regression analyses were used to explorephysiological regulation, indexed by sleeping, eating, sensory sensitivity andnegative emotionality, as a mediator of the relationship between abusepotential, measured by the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, and children’sproblematic behaviors. Findings revealed direct effects between child abuse potentialand internalizing and externalizing problems and child abuse potential and dysregulation.Further analyses highlighted regulation as a mediator of the relationshipbetween child abuse potential and internalizing problems, whereas both childabuse potential and children’s dysregulation were important in determiningexternalizing problems. Self-regulation appears to be a key target for interventionprograms for toddlers to halt the progression of behavioral problems often foundin maltreated children.

Author Biography

Julie Schatz-Stevens, Aquinas College

Dr. Julie Schatz-Stevens joined the psychology faculty in 2013.  She earned her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Notre Dame.  In her work at the University of Notre Dame, she designed and implemented translational intervention programs to support families with adolescents handle conflict and families struggling in custody litigation.  At Aquinas College, she is currently investigating the relationship between emotional security and emerging adults' adjustment.

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Published

2015-08-07

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2

Section

Research Articles

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