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Association between child maltreatment indicators and developmental problems in early childhood education

Introduction: Short and long-term exposure to maltreatment can increase the risk of developmental problems. Objective: To characterize a sample of children in early education with regard to the presence of indicators of child abuse and emotional and behavioural problems and to determine the association between these variables. Methods: The sample consisted of 40 elementary school children whose parents or guardians and teachers (n = 6) gave permission for their participation in this study. Data were obtained using the Phrase Inventory of Intra-family Child Abuse (PIICA) and the Teacher’s Report Form (TRF). Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were made. Results: The average score in IFVD was 17.82, which is out of range of risk, according to the instrument instructions. However, 30% of the sample with suspicions of maltreatment obtained a score higher than 23. The sample was divided into two groups for comparison according to the TRF (victimized and non-victimized). Significant differences were found in Total Problems and in Internalizing Problems, although the averages of the item responses from both groups were considered normal at all levels and in all sub-items. Conclusion: Children that present indicators of abuse are also likely to present indicators of depression and anxiety at non-clinical levels, corroborating other studies. However, the convenience sample in this study may have introduced a bias in terms of maltreatment severity. Further studies with larger and more diverse samples are necessary.