Theoretical models of victimisation emphasise the importance of context. However, few studies have assessed the influence of prison environmental variables on inmate harm in physical assaults. This study used a multilevel model approach to examine individual- and facility-level factors associated with the incidence of assaults among inmates housed at correctional centres in New South Wales, Australia. Results supported proposals that institutional routines and conditions may have an influence on risk. Inmates, who spent less time in employment, were placed in special housing arrangements such as protection, or were located in sites with higher security designations or longer routine hours out of cells were more likely to be harmed in assaults. In addition, more than 40% of variance in assaults was associated with differences across correctional centre sites. We draw on routine activities theory to explain relationships between different prison contexts, provision of guardianship, and exposure to motivated offenders in assault outcomes.
Population level shifts in the timing of parenting onset and family composition have been well documented. However, the impacts of these changes on the life course experiences of high risk, teen and younger mothers remain poorly understood. To address this issue, this paper examined intergenerational changes in the family formation and parenting experiences of teen and younger mothers who gave birth in the 1970s and the 2000s (G2, N = 108). The study sample consisted of two generations of early parenting women studied as part of the Christchurch Health and Development Study in New Zealand. Early motherhood (<25 years) was defined relative to concurrent national childbirth data. Results showed that contemporary young mothers (G2) were subject to greater parental, housing and school instability during their childhood years than early parenting women of their mothers' generation (G1). These risks persisted following their transition to motherhood, with G2 mothers being at increased risk of non-marital childbearing (65 vs. 11%), single motherhood (38 vs. 21%) and welfare dependence (37 vs. 19%) despite gains in educational achievement (36 vs. 18% tertiary qualified). Further examination of the family circumstances and parenting practices of contemporary G2 mothers showed that about half were working in unskilled or part time employment, with many experiencing a range of financial problems (13-40%). Breastfeeding (89%) and infant immunization (92%) were common, but one in four G2 women were exposing their children to passive cigarette smoke, physical punishment (82%) and abuse (14%). These findings provide support for secular changes in the context of early motherhood, with contemporary young mothers raising their children in family contexts characterized by higher levels of psychosocial adversity than the previous generation of early parenting women. Such findings raise significant concerns for the health and wellbeing of these young mothers and their children.
Population level shifts in the timing of parenting onset and family composition have been well documented. However, the impacts of these changes on the life course experiences of high risk, teen and younger mothers remain poorly understood To address this issue, this paper examined intergenerational changes in the family formation and parenting experiences of teen and younger mothers who gave birth in the 1970s and the 2000s (G2, N = 108). The study sample consisted of two generations of early parenting women studied as part of the Christchurch Health and Development Study in New Zealand Early motherhood (<25 years) was defined relative to concurrent national childbirth data. Results showed that contemporary young mothers (G2) were subject to greater parental, housing and school instability during their childhood years than early parenting women of their mothers’ generation (G1). These risks persisted following their transition to motherhood, with G2 mothers being at increased risk of non-marital childbearing (65 vs. 11%), single motherhood (38 vs. 21%) and welfare dependence (37 vs. 19%) despite gains in educational achievement (36 vs. 18% tertiary qualified). Further examination of the family circumstances and parenting practices of contemporary G2 mothers showed that about half were working in unskilled or part time employment, with many experiencing a range of financial problems (13–40%). Breastfeeding (89%) and infant immunization (92%) were common, but one in four G2 women were exposing their children to passive cigarette smoke, physical punishment (82%) and abuse (14%). These findings provide support for secular changes in the context of early motherhood, with contemporary young mothers raising their children in family contexts characterized by higher levels of psychosocial adversity than the previous generation of early parenting women. Such findings raise significant concerns for the health and wellbeing of these young mothers and their children.
Objective: This paper reports patterns of health service utilisation in the second Australian national survey of psychosis corresponding with changes in available services of this period. Method: Semi-structured interviews were carried out of an age-stratified random sample of adults who screened positive for psychosis. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to identify predictors of service use for a sample of 1825 individuals. Results: Use of psychiatric inpatient services was associated with higher symptom levels, suicidal ideation, poor social functioning and younger age. High users of emergency mental health services similarly reported higher symptom levels, poor functioning and younger age, and also reported being married or in a de facto relationship. Recipients of general practitioner services had greater anxiety symptoms and suicidal thoughts, fewer negative symptoms, single marital status and English as their first language. Rehabilitation service use was associated with greater anxiety symptoms, unemployment, younger age of illness onset, living alone and having no dependent children living at home. Last, outpatient/community services were more frequently used by younger people with good premorbid adjustment, hallucinations and a less severe course of illness. Conclusions: Service utilisation patterns vary with the clinical and socio-demographic features of those who use them – inpatient and emergency service users being similar in such features and differing from users of other services. Comparison with the first national survey of psychosis revealed a significant decline in acute inpatient service use and a substantial increase in the use of outpatient/community and rehabilitation services over the past 10 years.
Purpose The initial aim of this multiagency, multigenerational record linkage study is to identify childhood profiles of developmental vulnerability and resilience, and to identify the determinants of these profiles. The eventual aim is to identify risk and protective factors for later childhood-onset and adolescent-onset mental health problems, and other adverse social outcomes, using subsequent waves of record linkage. The research will assist in informing the development of public policy and intervention guidelines to help prevent or mitigate adverse long-term health and social outcomes. Participants The study comprises a population cohort of 87 026 children in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW). The cohort was defined by entry into the first year of full-time schooling in NSW in 2009, at which time class teachers completed the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) on each child (with 99.7% coverage in NSW). The AEDC data have been linked to the children's birth, health, school and child protection records for the period from birth to school entry, and to the health and criminal records of their parents, as well as mortality databases. Findings to date Descriptive data summarising sex, geographic and socioeconomic distributions, and linkage rates for the various administrative databases are presented. Child data are summarised, and the mental health and criminal records data of the children's parents are provided. Future plans In 2015, at age 11 years, a self-report mental health survey was administered to the cohort in collaboration with government, independent and Catholic primary school sectors. A second record linkage, spanning birth to age 11 years, will be undertaken to link this survey data with the aforementioned administrative databases. This will enable a further identification of putative risk and protective factors for adverse mental health and other outcomes in adolescence, which can then be tested in subsequent record linkages.
Background Parenting factors have been implicated in the aetiology and maintenance of child anxiety. Most research has been correlational with little experimental or longitudinal work. Cross‐cultural comparison could be illuminating. A comparison of Italian and British children and their mothers was conducted. Methods A sample of 8‐ to 10‐year old children, 60 Italian and 49 English, completed the Spence Child Anxiety Scale. Mothers also completed two questionnaires of parenting: the Skills of Daily Living Checklist (assessing maternal autonomy granting) and the Parent–Child Interaction Questionnaire (assessing maternal intrusiveness). Parenting was assessed in two video‐recorded blindly rated mother–child interaction tasks, the ‘belt‐buckling tasks and the ‘etch‐a‐sketch’, providing objective indices of overcontrol, warmth, lack of autonomy granting, and overprotection. Results There were no differences between the children in overall anxiety and specific forms of anxiety. Parenting, however, was markedly different for the two countries. Compared to English mothers, on the two questionnaires, Italian mothers were significantly less autonomy granting and more intrusive; and in terms of the observed indices, a significantly greater proportion of the Italian mothers displayed a high level of both overprotection and overcontrol, and a low level of autonomy granting. Notably, Italian mothers evidenced significantly more warmth than English mothers; and maternal warmth was found to moderate the impact of self‐reported maternal intrusiveness on the level of both overall child anxiety and the level of child separation anxiety; and it also moderated the relationship between both observed maternal intrusiveness and overall child anxiety and observed maternal overprotectiveness and child separation anxiety. Conclusions Although, compared to the British mothers, the Italian mothers were more likely to evidence high levels of parenting behaviours previously found to be anxiogenic, the high levels of warmth displayed by these mothers to their children appears to have neutralised the adverse impact of these behaviours.