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This study sought to understand how experiences of maltreatment occurring prior to 12 years of age affect adolescent peer and dating relationships. A school-based sample of 15-year-olds was divided into maltreated (n = 132) and nonmaltreated (n = 227) subgroups based on self-reported maltreatment. These two groups were then compared on two theoretically determined dimensions of adjustment (i.e., interpersonal sensitivity/hostility; personal resources) and self- and teacher-report measures of peer and dating relationships. Findings supported the hypothesis that maltreated youths significantly differed from nonmaltreated youths in terms of adjustment problems as well as conflict with dating partners and close friends. Maltreated youths reported significantly more verbal and physical abuse both toward and by their dating partners, and were seen by teachers as engaging in more acts of aggression and harassment toward others. In regression analyses, the significant association between maltreatment and dating conflict for males was strengthened by including adjustment dimensions in the equation; for females, adjustment variables mediated the association between maltreatment and dating conflict. Results are discussed in relation to a maladaptive interpersonal trajectory for maltreated children, wherein a violent interactional dynamic in adolescent close relationships may be setting the stage for violence in intimate partnerships.

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Utilizing attachment theory as a basis for conceptualizing close relationships among adolescents, this study investigated two important relationship risk factors (child maltreatment, and adolescent self-perceived insecure attachment style) as predictors of “offender” and “victim” experiences in youth relationships. In addition to considering the influence of these risk factors, we further considered their interaction in predicting conflict in close relationships. Of interest was the extent to which attachment styles may function as a moderator of the relationship between childhood abuse and current abuse in teen close relationships. High school students (N = 321) in grades 9 and 10 completed questionnaires tapping their histories of maltreatment, currently viewed styles of attachment, and conflict in close relationships over the past 6 months. Maltreatment alone emerged as the most consistent predictor, accounting for 13–18% of the variance in male's physically, sexually, and verbally abusive behaviors; in contrast, it was not highly predictive of female's abusive behaviors. Maltreatment was predictive of victimization experiences for both males and females. Attachment style did not substantially add to the prediction of relationship conflict beyond maltreatment; however, avoidant attachment style emerged repeatedly as a significant predictor of female abusiveness and victimization. Attachment self-ratings were found to function as a moderator of child maltreatment in predicting primarily male coercive behavior towards a relationship partner as well as predicting male's experience of coercion from a partner. Thus, the presence of childhood maltreatment and adolescent self-perceived insecure attachment style applies predominantly to male youth. The implication of these gender differences for understanding relationship violence is discussed.

The present study, utilizing both a child protective services and high school sample of midadolescents, examined the issue of self-report of maltreatment as it relates to issues of external validity (i.e., concordance with social worker ratings), reliability (i.e., overlap with an alternate child maltreatment self-report inventory; association of a self-labeling item as “abused” with their subscale item counterparts), and construct validity (i.e., the association of maltreatment with posttraumatic stress symptomatology and dating violence). Relevant theoretical work in attachment, trauma, and relationship violence points to a mediational model, whereby the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent dating violence would be expected to be accounted for by posttraumatic stress symptomatology. In the high school sample, 1329 adolescents and, in the CPS sample, 224 youth on the active caseloads completed comparable questionnaires in the three domains of interest. For females only, results supported a mediational model in the prediction of dating violence in both samples. For males, child maltreatment and trauma symptomatology added unique contributions to predicting dating violence, with no consistent pattern emerging across samples. When considering the issue of self-labeling as abused, CPS females who self-labeled had higher posttraumatic stress symptomatology and dating violence victimization scores than did their nonlabeling, maltreated counterparts for emotional maltreatment. These results point to the need for ongoing work in understanding the process of disclosure and how maltreatment experiences are consciously conceptualized.

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While most people were seen by an outpatient physician and (or) in the ED in the year before their death, not all received mental health care. Further research is needed to determine whether boys and girls who died by suicide differ from their peers in their health service use to guide preventive interventions.

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