Predictors of Termination of Parental Rights Following Allegations of Child Maltreatment

Extant research has identified important risk factors for single and recurrent child maltreatment. Parental substance use, severe mental illness, and intimate partner violence (IPV) are among the risk factors significantly associated with child maltreatment. However, there is a paucity of research that examines whether empirically supported risk factors are significantly associated with psychologists’ assessments of parental fitness and courts’ decisions regarding reunification following allegations of child maltreatment. Thus, in an effort to elucidate the process through which reunification or termination of parental rights is achieved in cases of child maltreatment, the current study (1) examined the relative importance of different varieties of psychopathology in predicting outcomes; and history of IPV on evaluations of parental risk and fitness made by an assessing forensic psychologist, and the factors associated with courts’ decisions regarding the termination of parental rights. The sample consisted of a large sample of parents (n = 320) seeking reunification following allegations of child maltreatment. Results demonstrated that the prevalence of substance use disorders, IPV perpetration, and severe mental illness was significantly higher than in the general population. Results further indicated that drug diagnoses and severe mental illness were associated with psychologist-assessed higher parental unfitness. Finally, results indicated that parental substance use, severe mental illness, IPV, and the psychologist’s assessment of parental fitness were not significantly associated with the court’s termination of parental rights rulings. The clinical and research implications of the study’s findings are discussed

A Preliminary Examination of Weight Based Psychological Aggression in Intimate Relationships

This two-part study examined a new form of intimate partner aggression termed weight based psychological aggression. Past work supports a theoretical and empirical relationship between intimate partner aggression and eating disorder symptoms. Additionally, negative events within romantic relationships are related to major risk factors of eating disorders (e.g.. body dissatisfaction, body consciousness). In the current studies, a new measure that assessed weight based psychological aggression was examined to explore its factor structure and psychometric properties. A second aim of these studies was to further examine the weight based psychological aggression construct and how it related to eating disorder symptoms. Emotion dysregulation is one important factor that may explain the relationship between weight based psychological aggression and disordered eating behaviors (e.g., eating disorder symptoms, body consciousness). Intimate partner aggression victimization was also included in the mediational model to further examine the mediating effect of emotion dysregulation on the relationship between intimate partner aggression and disordered eating behaviors. Results from the current studies supported the factor structure of the weight based psychological aggression measure and the convergent validity. The convergent validity was partially supported, and the discriminant validity was supported. Results from the mediation analyses indicated a significant effect supporting emotion regulation as a mediator of the relationship between the Guilt/Pressure subscale of the new measure and eating disorder symptoms. However, fit indices indicated poor model fit, decreasing confidence in the theoretical models. Emotion dysregulation did not mediate the relationship between the Retaliatory/Coercive subscale of the new measure and disordered eating behaviors (e.g., eating disorder symptoms, body consciousness). The mediating effect of emotion regulation on intimate partner aggression and disordered eating (e.g., eating disorder symptoms, body consciousness) was also not significant. Results from the current studies support the need for continued research, particularly among clinical samples. Implications for research and treatment are discussed