By adolescence, appraisal of one's past life experience becomes critical to the stage-salient issue of identity formation. This study examined adolescents' perceptions of their maltreatment experiences. It scrutinized the combined and unique contribution of five maltreatment types (i.e., physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, neglect, and exposure to family violence) to variance in adolescent adjustment. It was predicted that these maltreatment types would account for significant variance in adjustment when controlling for the context variables of age, sex, socioeconomic status, IQ, and stressful life events. Adolescents (N = 160, aged 11–17) were randomly selected from the open caseload of a child protection agency. Participants completed global severity ratings regarding their experiences of the five types of maltreatment, as well as a battery of measures assessing self- and caretaker-reported externalizing and internalizing symptomatology. The youths' maltreatment ratings significantly predicted self-reported adjustment, even when controlling for all context variables. Psychological maltreatment was the most predictively potent maltreatment type, and enhanced the predictive utility of other maltreatment types. Significant sex differences in the sequelae of perceived maltreatment were evident. Also, interactions between youths' ratings and those obtained from CPS files were detected. The findings were consistent with recent research in child maltreatment, and contribute to our understanding of developmental psychopathology among adolescents.
Research in the broad area of child maltreatment has investigated the effects of these phenomena globally and without much attempt to distinguish the nature and extent of such experiences. This study sought to examine the underlying structure of child maltreatment and relate this structure to current adolescent adjustment. A principal components analysis was conducted with 162 adolescents who had backgrounds of child maltreatment, using a comprehensive measure of such experiences at two developmental time periods (birth to 6 years, and 7–12 years). This analysis resulted in interpretable factors that were used to create scales measuring maltreatment in a continuous, nonredundant manner. These scales were used to test main and interaction effects of each type of maltreatment on current adjustment of adolescent males and females. For males (N = 71), the relationship between early maltreatment and adjustment was significantly enhanced when interactions between physical and psychological abuse and between partner abuse and neglect were entered into the equation. For females (N = 91), current adjustment was significantly related to the developmental period in which neglect or psychological abuse had occurred. Results are discussed in relation to measurement and theoretical issues.
Despite consensus on the existence and importance of psychological maltreatment, there is far less agreement on how it should be defined. This article reviews the current definitions, proposes a theoretical clarification of the concept, and describes its relevance for the field of developmental psychopathology. We conceptualize psychological maltreatment as the interaction between maltreating parent behaviors and the special vulnerabilities of a child, particularly his or her developmental level. Also, we restrict the definition of psychological maltreatment to verbal and nonverbal parent communication; parental acts that involve physical or sexual contact are excluded. This effort strives to minimize the redundancy with the definitions of other forms of maltreatment and facilitate research into the effects of all forms of victimization.
The performance of clinic-referred children aged 6-11 (N = 100) was examined using the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and measures of auditory attention (Auditory Continuous Performance Test; ACPT), phonological awareness, visual processing speed, and visual-motor competence. The Conners' CPT overall index was unrelated to measures of visual processing speed or visual-motor competence. Although the Conners' CPT converged with the ACPT, the latter demonstrated age and order effects. Significant variance in Conners' CPT parameters was predicted by phonological awareness measures, suggesting that Reading Disordered (RD) children could be "false positives" on the Conners' CPT. The Conners' CPT overall index, phonological awareness, and visual-motor measures were submitted to a 2 x 2 MANCOVA (ADHD vs. RD, covarying for age and socioeconomic status): a main effect for RD status was found. Children with ADHD did not have higher Conners' CPT scores than did clinical controls; however, children with Reading Disorders did. Phonological measures distinguished RD children from ADHD children and other clinical controls. ADHD children who failed the Conners' CPT were rated by teachers as more hyperactive. Despite the strengths of the Conners' CPT, its utility for differential diagnosis of ADHD is questioned.
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