Abstract
BackgroundIt has been well established that child physical abuse is a risk factor for cognitive deficits and behavioral problems. However, the possible link between cognitive deficits and behavioral problems placing children at a higher risk of physical abuse has been overlooked. Using a prospective design, the present study aims to examine whether previously measured cognition indicated by intelligence quotient (IQ), including performance IQ (PIQ) and verbal IQ (VIQ), and behavioral problems reported by multiple informants (i.e. mothers, teachers, and children) predict later child physical abuse (which may include minor and severe forms of abuse inflicted separately by mothers and fathers) in Chinese children.MethodsA school-based survey was conducted to collect data from 265 Chinese children (52.8 % boys, mean age 13.71 ± 0.60 years) in the Wave II of China Jintan Cohort study. When they were in the last year of elementary school, children completed the Chinese version of the Wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised that measured VIQ and PIQ during 2010–2012 when their behaviors were self-assessed. Mothers and teachers of these children used the Chinese versions of the youth self report, the child behavior checklist and the teacher report form, respectively, to assess the children’s behaviors. These children reported minor and severe physical abuse experiences in the previous 12 months from mothers and fathers separately using the Chinese version of parent–child conflict tactics scale in 2013 when children were in grades 7 and 8 of middle school.ResultsThe present study found that after controlling for the sociodemographic and other cognitive and/or behavior variables, high scores of child externalizing behavior rated by their mothers or teachers were associated with increased risks of experiencing maternal and paternal severe physical abuse, while a high score of self-reported externalizing behavior was associated with a decreased risk of paternal severe physical abuse. A high score of mother-rated internalizing behavior was associated with a decreased risk of maternal severe physical abuse. VIQ was associated with maternal minor physical abuse with small effect size. PIQ was not associated with any forms of physical abuse after adjusting for child behavior and sociodemographic variables.ConclusionsIn this community sample of Chinese children, externalizing behavior perceived by mothers and teachers is linked to children being at risk for physical abuse, while internalizing behavior perceived by mothers is associated with a decreased risk of maternal physical abuse. Findings suggest that educating parents and teachers to appropriately perceive children’s externalizing behavior may help prevent the occurrence of physical abuse.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13034-016-0124-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
It has been well established that child physical abuse is a risk factor for cognitive deficits and behavioral problems
To our best knowledge, this study is the first to report the association of cognition measured by verbal IQ (VIQ), performance IQ (PIQ), and child behavior rated by different informants with maternal and paternal physical abuse in a cohort sample of children
The majority of the participated children showed normal intelligence and behavior scores, within these children, we found that children with high scores of mother- and teacher-rated externalizing behavior were more likely to be severe physically abused by their mothers and fathers, while children with high scores on selfrated externalizing behavior were less likely to be severely physically abused by their fathers
Summary
It has been well established that child physical abuse is a risk factor for cognitive deficits and behavioral problems. The possible link between cognitive deficits and behavioral problems placing children at a higher risk of physical abuse has been overlooked. The present study aims to examine whether previously measured cognition indicated by intelligence quotient (IQ), including performance IQ (PIQ) and verbal IQ (VIQ), and behavioral problems reported by multiple informants (i.e. mothers, teachers, and children) predict later child physical abuse (which may include minor and severe forms of abuse inflicted separately by mothers and fathers) in Chinese children. Child physical abuse shows associations with increased risks of physical, behavioral, cognitive, and psychological problems during childhood, and such effects can last into adulthood [3, 4].
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