Citation

Petrenko CL, Friend A, Garrido EF, Taussig HN, Culhane SE. Child Abuse Negl. 2012; 36(9): 633-644.

Affiliation

Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, The Gary Pavilion at Children's Hospital Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Denver, CO, USA; Mt. Hope Family Center, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, 187 Edinburgh St., Rochester, NY 14608, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2012.07.001

PMID

22947490

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Attempts to understand the effects of maltreatment subtypes on childhood functioning are complicated by the fact that children often experience multiple subtypes. This study assessed the effects of maltreatment subtypes on the cognitive, academic, and mental health functioning of preadolescent youth in out-of-home care using both "variable-centered" and "person-centered" statistical analytic approaches to modeling multiple subtypes of maltreatment. METHODS: Participants included 334 preadolescent youth (ages 9-11) placed in out-of-home care due to maltreatment. The occurrence and severity of maltreatment subtypes (physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, and supervisory neglect) were coded from child welfare records. The relationships between maltreatment subtypes and children's cognitive, academic, and mental health functioning were evaluated with the following approaches: RESULTS: The approaches identified similar relationships between maltreatment subtypes and children's functioning. The most consistent findings indicated that maltreated children who experienced physical or sexual abuse were at highest risk for caregiver-reported externalizing behavior problems, and those who experienced physical abuse and/or physical neglect were more likely to have higher levels of caregiver-reported internalizing problems. Children experiencing predominantly low severity supervisory neglect had relatively better functioning than other maltreated youth. CONCLUSIONS: Many of the maltreatment subtype differences identified within the maltreated sample in the current study are consistent with those from previous research comparing maltreated youth to non-maltreated comparison groups. Results do not support combining supervisory and physical neglect. The "variable-centered" and "person-centered" analytic approaches produced complementary results. Advantages and disadvantages of each approach are discussed.

Language: en