Child maltreatment: risk of adjustment problems and dating violence in adolescence.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between child maltreatment, clinically relevant adjustment problems, and dating violence in a community sample of adolescents.


METHODS
Adolescents from 10 high schools (N= 1,419; response rate = 62%) in southwestern Ontario completed questionnaires that assessed past maltreatment, current adjustment, and dating violence. Logistic regression was used to compare maltreated and nonmaltreated youths across outcome domains.


RESULTS
One third (n = 462) of the school sample reported levels of maltreatment above the cutoff score on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Girls with a history of maltreatment had a higher risk of emotional distress compared with girls without such histories (e.g., odds ratios [OR] for anger, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress-related problems were 7.1, 7.2, 9.3, and 9.8, respectively). They were also at greater risk of violent and nonviolent delinquency (OR = 2.7) and carrying concealed weapons (OR = 7.1). Boys with histories of maltreatment were 2.5 to 3.5 times as likely to report clinical levels of depression, posttraumatic stress, and overt dissociation as were boys without a maltreatment history. They also had a significantly greater risk of using threatening behaviors (OR = 2.8) or physical abuse (OR = 3.4) against their dating partners.


CONCLUSIONS
Maltreatment is a significant risk factor for adolescent maladjustment and shows a differential pattern for male and female adolescents.
Wolfe
D A
DA
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. dawolfe@julian.uwo.ca
Scott
K
K
Wekerle
C
C
Pittman
A L
AL
D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*