Early Childhood Maltreatment and Trajectories of Behavioral Problems: Exploring Gender and Racial Differences

• NCJ Number: 246801
• Journal: Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2014 Pages: 544-556
• Author(s): Meripa T. Godinet; Fenfang Li; Teresa Berg
• Date Published: March 2014
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the trajectory of child behavioral problems over time as a function of early maltreatment, hypothesizing that early alleged maltreatment would have a significant detrimental impact on both emotional (internalizing) and behavioral (externalizing) development; the impact of gender and racial differences in the trajectories were also examined.

Abstract

The major findings from the study are that early childhood maltreatment was significantly related to the trajectories of a child's behavioral problems; and also that the relationship between early maltreatment and later behavioral trajectories was moderated by the child's gender. For boys, the effects of early childhood maltreatment were evident at early assessment periods; however, the effect decreased and gradually diminished over time. For girls, on the other hand, the influence of early alleged maltreatment on child behavior outcomes was weakest at the most proximal assessment (e.g., age 4), but became stronger over the course of the follow-up period. The current literature mentions gender-specific coping responses to stressful life experiences, such as child maltreatment. Boys tend to express anger and act out aggressively, and girls are more likely to cope by internalizing their response. Similarly, the findings of the current study show the different trajectories for the genders. Regarding the impact of race, the study found no significant modification of the relationship between early maltreatment and later behavioral trajectories. The authors advise, however, that this may be due to the proportion of different races in the study sample. Study participants were overwhelmingly Black (74 percent of the sample). The study selected 484 children from the LONGSCAN archival data. Two groups were formed: children with early allegations of maltreatment from birth to age 4 and children without any report. The maltreated group had not reports of maltreatment after age 4. 2 figures, 3 tables, and 74 references