Abstract
Child welfare systems in the Caribbean tend not to take multi-type maltreatment into account when assessing and treating victims of child maltreatment. This study aimed to provide evidence of the prevalence of multi-type maltreatment and patterns of co-occurrence of child abuse and neglect among children and adolescents in community residences across Trinidad. One hundred and two children and adolescents completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire which captured five abuse and neglect types: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect and emotional neglect. The correlation analyses revealed significant positive relationships among the three types of abuse and a moderate positive correlation between the two types of neglect. T-test results indicated that girls were more likely than boys to experience physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse, however boys also reported high levels of abuse and neglect. The findings suggest that children are likely to face multiple forms of abuse and neglect that may contribute to its alarming severity and chronicity. Children in community residences are a population of particular interest given that residential care may be considered either a risk or a protective factor depending on the quality of care provided. Recommendations for future research and intervention strategies are proposed.
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Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the University of the West Indies Campus Research and Publication Fund (CRP.3. NOV15.6). We would also like to thank the managers of the community residences in Trinidad for their continued support throughout the data collection process.
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Ethical Standards and Informed Consent
All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.
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Descartes, C.H., Maharaj, P.E., Quammie, M. et al. It’s Never One Type: the Co-Occurrence of Child Abuse and Neglect among Children Living in Community Residences in Trinidad. Journ Child Adol Trauma 13, 419–427 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-019-00293-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-019-00293-x