Citation

Reading R. Child Care Health Dev. 2008; 34(5): 699-700.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2214.2008.00879_7.x

PMID

18796066

Abstract

Objective The goal was to examine the association between early childhood neglect (birth to age 2 years) and later childhood aggression at ages 4, 6 and 8 years, compared with aggression's associations with early childhood abuse and later abuse and neglect. Methods A prospective cohort of 1318 predominantly at-risk children, recruited from four US cities and one southern state, were monitored from birth to 8 years of age. Maltreatment was determined through review of local child protective services records. A hierarchical, linear model approach, a special case of general, linear, mixed modelling, was used to predict aggressive behaviour scores, as reported by the child's primary caregiver at ages 4, 6 and 8 years. Results Only early neglect significantly predicted aggression scores. Early abuse, later abuse and later neglect were not significantly predictive in a controlled model with all four predictors. Conclusion This longitudinal study suggests that child neglect in the first 2 years of life may be a more important precursor of childhood aggression than later neglect or physical abuse at any age.

Language: en