The ERISK Index: A Reliable and EasytoAdminister

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The E-RISK Index A Reliable and
Easy-to-Administer Screening Tool of Early
Precursors of Likely Neglectful Behaviors Robin
Gaines Lanzi, Sharon Landesman Ramey, Shannon S.
Carothers Bert, Bette R. Keltner, and the
Centers for Prevention of Child Neglect
Georgetown University
4-item Screening Tool
Major Findings
Research Goals

• Identify key constructs hypothesized to be
  precursors of early child neglect
• Develop a screening tool for service providers
  and clinicians and then determine whether it can
  be used to predict the quality of home
  environments and mother-child interactions
• Determine whether screening tool predicts
  childrens development

• Uncertainty about ability to do a good job
  raising child
• Uncertainty about ability to provide emotional
  support to child
• Unwillingness to accept new parental
  responsibilities
• Indicate young children who feel secure often
  grow up expecting too much

4-item Screening Tool Predicts Quality of Home
Environment and Mother-Child Interactions
Key Constructs Hypothesized to be Precursors of
Early Child Neglect
4-item Screening Tool Predicts Childrens
Cognitive, Language, and Emotional Development

• Adult low resource mothers have higher rates on
  precursors than do Adult high resource mothers
• Teen mothers have highest rates of any group on
  almost all precursors
• Similar patterns of early precursors of likely
  neglectful behaviors during 1st 6 months of the
  babys life
• With the exception that even more teen moms
  become even more unwilling to accept parental
  responsibilities when baby is 6 months old,
  ?2(2)24.40, plt.001

Methods

• Design
• Longitudinal prospective study designed to
  advance understanding of the etiology and
  effective strategies to prevent child neglect
  across diverse populations and settings
• Participants
• 682 adolescent and adult first-time mothers and
  their babies
• 396 adolescents (less than 19 years of age)
• 169 low education adults (gt21 yrs old lt2 years
  of college)
• 117 higher education adults (gt21 yrs old gt 2
  years of college)
• Race/ethnicity
• 68.5 African American
• 14.4 European American
• 14.3 Hispanic/Latina
• 2.8 of other ethnicities

Implications

• 4-item E-RISK Screening Tool can easily be
  adopted by clinicians, service providers, and
  interventionists to better serve and support
  parents before neglectful behaviors may occur and
  potentially adversely affect the babys
  development.

This research was supported by NICHD grants K01
HD42173 and HD39456 cosponsor groups include the
CDC, NIDA, and the Department of Education, as
well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (
037224).
Please direct questions and correspondence to
Robin Lanzi RGL2_at_georgetown.edu, Georgetown
Center on Health and Education, School of Nursing
and Health Studies, Georgetown University,
Washington, DC 20057