This book provides insights into such contemporary issues as victimization of children via the Internet, short- and long-term effects of terrorism on children, and applying new technologies to understanding spatial distribution of child abuse.

A selection of papers presented at the international conference, Leuven, May 12-14, 1997.

Each year, child protective services receive reports of child abuse and neglect involving six million children, and many more go unreported. The long-term human and fiscal consequences of child abuse and neglect are not relegated to the victims themselves-they also impact their families, future relationships, and society. In 1993, the National Research Council (NRC) issued the report, Under-standing Child Abuse and Neglect, which provided an overview of the research on child abuse and neglect. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research updates the 1993 report and provides new recommendations to respond to this public health challenge. According to this report, while there has been great progress in child abuse and neglect research, a coordinated, national research infrastructure with high-level federal support needs to be established and implemented immediately. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research recommends an actionable framework to guide and support future child abuse and neglect research. This report calls for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to child abuse and neglect research that examines factors related to both children and adults across physical, mental, and behavioral health domains-including those in child welfare, economic support, criminal justice, education, and health care systems-and assesses the needs of a variety of subpopulations. It should also clarify the causal pathways related to child abuse and neglect and, more importantly, assess efforts to interrupt these pathways. New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research identifies four areas to look to in developing a coordinated research enterprise: a national strategic plan, a national surveillance system, a new generation of researchers, and changes in the federal and state programmatic and policy response.

This book examines the associated experiences of school bullying and violence among vulnerable and marginalized youth. It discusses the effects of diversity and disparities in youth’s experiences with bullying. Among these are socioeconomic and social status, family cohesion and interactions, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, race, ethnicity, immigration, religion, and disabilities and special health needs. The book describes the ways in which a social-ecological framework can inform the problem and address school bullying. It addresses not only individual, intrapersonal, and environmental factors of bullying, but also discusses distal level factors and conditions that are specifically relevant to youth (e.g., culture and law). In addition, this volume contextualizes relevant multilevel factors that foster or inhibit bullying victimization among vulnerable and historically marginalized children and adolescents who are faced with cumulative social stratification. Key areas of coverage include: The role of the family (parents and guardians, siblings) – its cohesion and interactions – in school bullying. Race, ethnicity, immigration, and religion and school bullying of marginalized and at-risk youth. Victimization of students with physical, emotional, and learning disorders. Bullying and victimization of vulnerable youth in the court systems. School Bullying is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians and other practitioners, graduate students, and policymakers across such disciplines as child and school psychology, social work and counseling, pediatrics and school nursing, educational policy and politics, and all interrelated disciplines.

This book provides an overview of the core research and theory on polyvictimization – exposure to multiple types of victimization that may have negative and potentially lifelong biopsychosocial impacts. The contributors to the volume address such topics as measurement issues in how polyvictimization should be assessed and measured; developmental risks of early childhood polyvictimization for maltreated children in foster care; gender differences in polyvictimization and its consequences among juvenile justice-involved youth; the importance of trauma-focused treatment for polyvictimized youth in the juvenile justice system; and the nature of polyvictimization in the internet era. Suited to readers who are new to the topic including graduate and undergraduate students, as well as researchers and clinicians who want a concise update on the latest empirical research from the frontiers of this field, this book provides findings and methodological innovations of interest to researchers and human service professionals. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.