This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Poor developmental outcomes linked to parental violence, psychological distress
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Children with known exposures to intimate partner violence and/or parental psychological distress should be screened for developmental delay, according to recent study findings published in Pediatrics.
Amy Lewis Gilbert, JD, MPH, and colleagues from the Children’s Health Services section of the Indiana University School of Medicine examined parental reports of intimate partner violence (IPV) and/or parental psychological distress (PPD) to see whether there is an association with developmental milestone failures within the first 72 months of a child’s life.
The study included 16,595 children. Parents of 88 participants reported both IPV and PPD and these participants were more likely to fail at least one developmental milestone for language (adjusted OR=2.1; 95% CI, 1.3-3.3), personal-social (aOR=1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-2.9) and gross motor (aOR=3; 95% CI, 1.8-5). The parents of 2% of participants reported exposure to IPV only, which was associated with failing at least one developmental milestone for language (aOR=1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9) personal-social (aOR=1.7; 95% CI, 1.4-2.2) and fine motor-adaptive (aOR=1.7; 95% CI, 1-2.7). Strong associations were also shown for language (aOR=1.5; 95% CI, 1.3-1.7), personal-social (aOR=1.6; 95% CI, 1.5-1.8) gross motor (aOR=1.6; 95% CI, 1.4-1.8) and fine motor-adaptive (aOR=1.6; 95% CI, 1.3-2.0) milestones among participants whose parents reported PPD only (11.6%).
“Children with known exposures to either IPV or PPD, such as depression or anxiety, should be actively monitored for developmental delay so that referrals for intervention may be made at the earliest point possible,” Gilbert told Infectious Diseases in Children. “Likewise, children that fail to attain important developmental milestones should be screened for IPV and PPD so that these risk factors may also be addressed.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, NIH, and the National Library of Medicine.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts