title: A 12-year prospective study of the long-term effects of early child physical maltreatment on psychological, behavioral, and academic problems in adolescence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether child physical maltreatment early in life has long-term effects on psychological, behavioral, and academic problems independent of other characteristics associated with maltreatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective longitudinal study with data collected annually from 1987 through 1999.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomly selected, community-based samples of 585 children from the ongoing Child Development Project were recruited the summer before children entered kindergarten in 3 geographic sites. Seventy-nine percent continued to participate in grade 11. The initial in-home interviews revealed that 69 children (11.8%) had experienced physical maltreatment prior to kindergarten matriculation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adolescent assessment of school grades, standardized test scores, absences, suspensions, aggression, anxiety/depression, other psychological problems, drug use, trouble with police, pregnancy, running away, gang membership, and educational aspirations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescents maltreated early in life were absent from school more than 1.5 as many days, were less likely to anticipate attending college compared with nonmaltreated adolescents, and had levels of aggression, anxiety/depression, dissociation, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, social problems, thought problems, and social withdrawal that were on average more than three quarters of an SD higher than those of their nonmaltreated counterparts. The findings held after controlling for family and child characteristics correlated with maltreatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early physical maltreatment predicts adolescent psychological and behavioral problems, beyond the effects of other factors associated with maltreatment. Undetected early physical maltreatment in community populations represents a major problem worthy of prevention.
authors.affiliation: Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0545, USA. lansford@pps.duke.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Lansford
authors.forename: Kenneth A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Dodge
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Pettit
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crozier
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaplow
mesh_terms: D000275:Adjustment Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000374:Aggression; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States