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18 J. Fam. Violence 1 (2003)

handle is hein.journals/jfamv18 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 2003 (@ 2003) Introduction to Special Issue: LONGSCAN and Family Violence1 Desmond K. Runyan2 and Alan J. Litrownik3,4,5 In 1990 the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect, then the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, commit- ted funds to address the urgent need for theory-based, lon- gitudinal research in child maltreatment. The result was the start of the LONGSCAN (LONGitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect) Consortium, a coordinating cen- ter, and five independent prospective longitudinal studies designed to examine the long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect (Runyan et al., 1998). The LONGSCAN Consortium is utilizing a longi- tudinal cohort (follow-through) design that began with the recruitment of children at 4 years of age or younger. Following initial recruitment the five studies conduct as- sessments at regularly scheduled intervals (ages 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 years) using extensive face-to-face interviews with the caregivers and the children. These as- sessments are generated using ecological-developmental theory in an effort to incorporate hypothesized age-specific risk and protective factors at the child, parent, family, neighborhood, and cultural levels. The longitudinal design of the project reflects the developmental changes in risk and protective factors, and child outcomes that occur as children develop from preschool age through young adult- hood. Data are collected at each encounter to measure ex- posures to maltreatment, potential intervening variables, and age-appropriate outcomes. Cohort samples at the five sites were carefully chosen to represent a continuum of This research was supported by grants to the Consortium for Longi- tudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) from the Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Administration for Children, Youth, and Families. 2Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 3Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California. 4SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, California. 5To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182; e-mail: ajlit@sunstroke.sdsu.edu. children who were at risk for maltreatment and societal in- tervention. Participants include children who have a sub- stantiated early history of maltreatment and subsequent foster care placement (Southwest site), as well as those who have a history of reports for suspected maltreatment with and without interventions (Northwest, Midwest, and Southern sites). In addition, subjects include children who have not been reported for suspected maltreatment but were identified as at risk because of sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors (Midwest, Southern, and Eastern sites). The cohorts from the four sites included in the pa- pers that follow are each described in detail. LONGSCAN is now beginning its 13th year. In the first 5 years of the project, 1,435 children were enrolled across the five sites, and baseline data were collected for all participants. During the second 5 years, extensive follow- up measurement was developed and implemented, and follow-up data were collected on each child. Four of the sites (i.e., East, Northwest, South, and Southwest) have completed assessments at ages 4, 6, and 8. Data from one to three of these times points are utilized in the present se- ries of papers to address one of the LONGSCAN research objectives. Specifically, the papers in this issue were de- signed in an effort to better understand the occurrence of family violence and its impact on the developing child. As noted earlier, LONGSCAN has been careful to use a theoretical framework to guide measure selection and analyses. Theoretical frameworks enable investiga- tors to compare findings across research sites while also facilitating our understanding of processes that are invari- ant versus those that are specific to cultures, settings, or identified groups. Past research in child maltreatment has been described as goal-driven rather than theory-based, focusing on identifying antecedents and consequences of maltreatment (National Research Council, 1993). Ecological-developmental theory has been used throughout the life of the project to guide age-specific re- search questions, measurement, and analyses. We have at- tempted to examine how a child develops within multiple, 1 0885-7482/03/0200-0001/0 © 2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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