Child Maltreatment and Trauma Presentations in Children and Adolescents

Flashcards covering definitions, epidemiology, ecological and dimensional models, clinical assessment principles, and trauma presentations in child and adolescent psychology.

How is child maltreatment defined in the lecture?

Acts of commission (abuse) or omission (neglect) that result in actual or potential harm to a child's health, development, wellbeing, or dignity within a relationship of responsibility, trust, or power.

What is meant by the term 'polyvictimisation'?

A situation where children frequently experience multiple different forms of maltreatment simultaneously.

According to the literature cited (Carr, 2025; Azzopardi et al., 2019), what percentage of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) cases involve a father or stepfather, and what percentage involve another relative?

Approximately $20\%$ of cases involve a father or stepfather, and approximately $30\%$ involve another relative.

Why is neglect characterized as 'the quiet majority' of child maltreatment, and how does its harm arise?

Neglect is one of the most prevalent forms of maltreatment and is usually chronic, cumulative, and pervasive; harm arises from the absence of expected caregiving experiences and opportunities rather than from specific abusive acts.

According to international epidemiology studies, what are the estimated prevalence rates for physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse?

Approximately $1\text{ in }4$ children experience physical abuse ($23\%$), $1\text{ in }3$ experience emotional abuse ($36\%$), $1\text{ in }6$ experience neglect ($16\%$), and $1\text{ in }8$ experience sexual abuse ($13\%$).

What percentage of children aged $0\text{--}14$ years in Aotearoa New Zealand were the subject of an Oranga Tamariki notification in a single year?

Approximately $6.6\%$ of children.

What proportion of children in the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE)?

Approximately $53\%$ of children.

How frequently does a child die from maltreatment in Aotearoa New Zealand?

One child dies every $5$ weeks.

What legal protection and reporting principle is established under Section 15 of the Oranga Tamariki Act (1989)?

Any person may report concerns about a child who has been harmed or is at risk of serious harm, and information can be shared in good faith with legal protection.

What New Zealand legislation specifically supports information sharing to improve safety in family violence situations?

The Family Violence Act (2018).

What are the four systemic levels of Belsky's Developmental-Ecological Model?

Ontogenic Development (Child), Microsystem (Parent & Family), Exosystem (Community), and Macrosystem (Societal).

According to Belsky's Developmental-Ecological Model, what are the four strongest protective factors against maltreatment?

Social support, positive parenting, stable caregiving relationships, and school connectedness.

What is a key conceptual limitation of simply counting Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)?

Counting ACEs shows that adversity matters, but it does not explain why outcomes differ (equifinality and multifinality), how adversity affects development, when adversity is most impactful (timing), or what promotes resilience.

In McLaughlin et al.'s (2014) dimensional model, which neural circuits and structures are primarily impacted by 'Threat'?

Fear and survival networks, specifically the amygdala, hippocampus, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).

In McLaughlin et al.'s (2014) dimensional model, what brain regions and functional deficits are linked to 'Deprivation'?

Learning and cognition networks (prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and temporal cortex), resulting in executive functioning delays, language delays, and cognitive delays.

What is the core premise of 'developmental cascades' regarding early adversity and recovery?

Early adversity alters developmental pathways such that effects accumulate across domains and missed milestones compound later risk; conversely, skills scaffold each other and recovery can also cascade across domains.

According to McLaughlin et al.'s (2020) transdiagnostic model, what three mechanisms link childhood trauma to transdiagnostic psychopathology?

Social Information Processing (enhanced threat detection, hostile attribution bias), Emotion Processing (heightened emotion reactivity, poor emotion regulation), and Accelerated Biological Aging (pubertal timing, cellular aging).

What factor acts as a transdiagnostic buffer against psychopathology in McLaughlin et al.'s (2020) model?

Social support.

What is the defined role of a Clinical Psychologist regarding child maltreatment assessment compared to statutory roles?

To assess developmental and psychological impact, evaluate current safety, identify risk and protective factors, and support intervention; psychologists do not determine caregiver guilt, conduct forensic interviews, or make legal decisions.

What is the fundamental priority when conducting a trauma-informed clinical assessment with a child?

Safety and the therapeutic relationship come before information gathering.

What process guidelines should a clinician follow during an in-session disclosure of abuse by a child?

Stay calm, thank the child for telling you, ask general open-ended questions without leading or pushing for detail, clarify any ambiguous words used, and let the child know what will happen with the information.

In cases of domestic violence, at what point is the risk of danger highest for the adult victim and child?

The highest risk occurs when the partner leaves the relationship.

What three parenting cognitive thinking errors are highlighted as increasing the risk of maltreatment?

Attribution errors (hostile interpretation bias viewing the child as intentionally difficult), parent-centred thinking (prioritising own needs over the child's), and minimising/externalisation (downplaying impacts or blaming outside entities).

According to meta-analytic findings (Visser et al., 2026), what percentage of trauma-exposed individuals meet criteria for PTSD?

Approximately $12\%$ of individuals, particularly girls and individuals exposed to interpersonal trauma.

How do DSM-5-TR symptom cluster criteria for PTSD differ between children aged 6+ years and children under 6 years (preschool criteria)?

Children aged $6+$ require intrusions ($1+$), avoidance ($2+$), negative cognitions/mood ($2+$), and hyperarousal ($1+$); preschool children ($<6$) require intrusions ($1+$), hyperarousal ($1+$), and only $1+$ symptom across either avoidance OR negative cognitions/mood.

How does Developmental Trauma differ from Single Incident Trauma / PTSD?

Single incident trauma is typically a discrete event causing fear-based symptoms (intrusions, avoidance, hyperarousal), whereas developmental trauma involves pervasive, chronic relational trauma and neglect across sensitive developmental periods that disrupt attachment, security, identity, and multiple developmental processes.

In Meiser-Stedman's developmental adaptations of Ehlers & Clark's Cognitive Model of PTSD, how do trauma memories and appraisals present in young people?

Trauma memories may be fragmented, sensory-based, or expressed through play, and negative appraisals (such as self-blame, shame, and danger beliefs) maintain symptoms, with subjective threat being central.

What are the five core components of Briere's Self-Trauma Model?

Attachment Disruption, Affect Dysregulation, Cognitive Distortions, Avoidance and Revictimisation, and Fragmentation of Self.

Under what specific conditions is the risk of dissociation highest in maltreated children?

Following early onset trauma, chronic trauma, and caregiver-perpetrated trauma where escape is impossible and the source of threat is simultaneously the primary source of protection.

Which two psychometric tools are specifically recommended to assist in assessing dissociation in young people?

The Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES) and the Child Dissociation Checklist (CDC).