title: Intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect: Do maltreatment type, perpetrator, and substantiation status matter?
abstract: A maternal history of childhood maltreatment is thought to be a potent risk factor for child abuse and neglect, yet the extent of continuity across generations is unclear, with studies reporting vastly different rates of intergenerational transmission. Disparate findings may be due to lack of attention to the nature of maltreatment experiences in each generation. We sought to expand the current literature by examining the role of maltreatment type, perpetrator identity, and substantiation status of reports to child protective services (CPS) on intergenerational maltreatment among adolescent mothers (n=417) and their children. We found that when mothers had at least one report of childhood maltreatment (substantiated or not), the odds that they maltreated their children increased by 72% (OR=2.52), compared to mothers who are not maltreated, but the odds were considerably lower when we limited analysis to substantiated reports. Both a maternal history of substantiated neglect and multiple type maltreatment (neglect and physical or sexual abuse) were associated with increased risk of child maltreatment, yet the likelihood of children experiencing multiple maltreatment perpetrated with their mothers identified as perpetrators increased over 300% when mothers had a childhood history of multiple maltreatment.
authors.affiliation: Child Trends, Bethesda, United States. Electronic address: jbartlett@childtrends.org.
authors.forename: Jessica Dym
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.affiliation: Tufts Evaluation Interdisciplinary Evaluation (TIER), Tufts University, Medford, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Chie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kotake
authors.affiliation: Tufts Evaluation Interdisciplinary Evaluation (TIER), Tufts University, Medford, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fauth
authors.affiliation: Tufts Evaluation Interdisciplinary Evaluation (TIER), Tufts University, Medford, MA, United States.
authors.forename: M Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Easterbrooks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000068216:Child Protective Services; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent mothers; Child abuse and neglect; Child maltreatment; Intergenerational transmission; Young children