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Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the lives of children and parents, raising concerns about child maltreatment., Objective: We examined the prevalence of abusive parenting behavior during the pandemic of the COVID-19 and its relations with physical, psychological, and social factors and positive parenting behavior., Participants and Setting: An online survey was performed during the COVID-19 state of emergency in Japan. Participants were 5344 parents of children aged 0-17 years., Methods: We conducted an anonymous online survey using multiple platforms, including websites of child-related organizations and social networking services (SNS). Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with abusive behavior., Results: One-fifth of parents reported abusive behaviors, whereas over 80% of parents reported positive parenting behaviors (e.g., empathizing with a child). Abusive parenting behaviors were associated with longer screen time (6+ hours per day: OR, 1.44; 95%CI, 1.05-1.98), poor maternal mental health (K6 = 13+: OR, 2.23; 95%CI, 1.71-2.89), and the occurrence of domestic violence (OR, 4.54; 95%CI, 3.47-5.95). Positive parenting behaviors, especially showing empathy, were associated with lower risks of abusive behaviors (OR, 0.51: 95%CI, 0.39-0.66)., Conclusions: Positive parenting behavior is essential to the prevention of child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Unintentional injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among young children in developed countries. In this national study, we examined the role of municipality-level safety checklist implementation for reducing risky child-safety-related parental behaviors., Methods: Nationwide data were collected to evaluate the impact of the Healthy Parents and Children 21 initiative of the Japanese government. Questionnaires related to safety checklist implementation were administered to a random sample of municipal offices and to parents at the child's routine 1.5-year health exam on parental behaviors related to child safety. Adjusting for municipality and individual-level variables, multilevel analysis was used to examine the relationship between municipality checklist implementation (4-month health exam) and six child-safety-related parental behaviors at the 1.5-year health exam., Results: Families (n = 23,394) across 371 municipalities in Japan were included in this study; 5.6% of municipalities implemented a child safety intervention. Living in a municipality with a checklist intervention was associated with reduction in certain risk behaviors (not keeping tobacco/ashtray and candy out of the reach of infants, not using a car seat, not having a lock on bathing room door). However, after additionally taking into account municipality-level residual effects, only the "tobacco" behavior showed association with municipality of residence (Interval odds ratio, 0.25-0.94) and others were weak in the context of other potential municipality-level influences., Conclusions: A municipality-level intervention taking a checklist-based approach at the 4-month health exam in Japan appears to promote certain child safety behaviors in parents with children around 1.5 years of age.

Objectives　Spreading awareness of shaken baby syndrome is considered to be essential in the prevention of infant deaths resulting from abuse. This study aimed to determine whether an educational video on infant crying, developed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, was effective at increasing knowledge of infant crying and shaking among Japanese caregivers of infants aged under 1 year.Methods　We targeted caregivers who had infants aged under 1 year for intervention through health checkups and home visits in 29 municipalities across Japan from April 2013 to March 2014. The educational video on infant crying and danger of shaking and smothering was used as intervention. A questionnaire was administered to caregivers to assess their knowledge on infant crying and shaking prior to and after the intervention (N=1,444, response rate 93.8%). A sample of 1,232 caregivers was used for analysis, after excluding those who did not report the outcome of interest (i.e., knowledge on shaking or smothering) and demographics. In the analysis, pre- and post-test mean scores on crying knowledge scales and shaking knowledge scales (out of 100) were compared separately. Subgroup analysis and regression analysis were also conducted to examine whether the effect of the intervention varied by infant age, birth order, parent's sex, age, education, marital status, household income, grandparents' co-residence, postpartum depression, domestic violence during pregnancy, feelings about pregnancy, and resident area (urban/rural).Results　Scores on infant crying significantly increased by 12.4 points (95% confidence interval: 11.7-13.2), and those on shaking knowledge increased by 4.7 points (95% confidence interval: 3.9-5.6) after the caregivers had watched the educational video. Subgroup analysis confirmed that the effect of the intervention did not differ among the subgroups except shaking knowledge scores among those who were not married and those who experienced physical violence from their partner. A regression analysis on change in scores revealed that parents with higher education gained more knowledge on infant crying, and fathers and those not living with grandparents gained more knowledge on shaking than mothers.Conclusion　The educational video on infant crying was effective in increasing knowledge of infant crying and shaking, regardless of demographics of infants and parents and postnatal situation.