The Long-Term Consequences of Maltreatment in the Early Years: A Developmental Pathway Model to Antisocial Behavior

Abstract

The developmental pathways linking maltreatment in early childhood and antisocial behavior in adolescence were examined using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children and their families. Two developmental process variables, emotional/self-regulation (dysregulation) and establishing a close emotional relationship between the child and primary caregiver (alienation), were included in the model in an effort to better understand the pathway from maltreatment to antisocial behavior. The results indicated that alienation and, to a much lesser extent, dysregulation helped explain the relation between early maltreatment and later antisocial behavior. The model including the developmental process variables was a better representation of the data than the model considering only the direct effect between early maltreatment and later antisocial behavior. Physical abuse in early childhood, not emotional neglect, led to alienation in preschool, which then predicted early onset externalizing problems in the elementary school years, ultimately resulting in antisocial behavior in adolescence. One of the implications of these findings for preventing adolescent antisocial behavior is to intervene at an early age with a relationship-based program.

Psychopathy and Suicidality in Female Offenders: Mediating Influences of Personality and Abuse.

“…These latter results coincide with data from the adult personality disorder literature indicating that childhood abuse history accounts for variance in psychopathology over that accounted for by personality dispositions (Morey & Zanarini, 2000;Trull, 2001). In contrast to these results for sexual abuse, physical abuse was related selectively to Negative Emotionality and Behavioral Constraint, consistent with the idea that personality mediates the influence of physical abuse on suicidal and antisocial behaviors (Egeland et al, 2002).…”

“…These latter results coincide with data from the adult personality disorder literature indicating that childhood abuse history accounts for variance in psychopathology over that accounted for by personality dispositions (Morey & Zanarini, 2000;Trull, 2001). In contrast to these results for sexual abuse, physical abuse was related selectively to Negative Emotionality and Behavioral Constraint, consistent with the idea that personality mediates the influence of physical abuse on suicidal and antisocial behaviors (Egeland et al, 2002).However, an alternative interpretation, which cannot be ruled out, is that the effects of physical abuse may be attributed to a gene-environment correlation. That is, the offspring of abusive parents may inherit tendencies toward destructive and impulsive behaviors (Ge et al, 1996) from their parents, which would also put them at risk for receiving more severe punishment from their parents.…”

“…Relatedly, it is important to recognize that a number of alternative path models would yield equivalent fit (MacCallum, Wegener, Uchino, & Fabrigar, 1993;Tomarken & Waller, 2003), and the causal assumptions driving these models cannot be confirmed. However, it is noteworthy that our results parallel findings from other studies, including those that have used longitudinal designs (Egeland et al, 2002), and our model was plausibly derived from the theoretical and empirical literatures.Second, only limited information was available regarding the circumstances surrounding participants' suicide attempts. For example, our suicide measure cannot adequately distinguish between suicide attempts that were motivated by a desire to die (i.e., more genuine attempts) versus those that were "cries for help" or less serious attempts.…”

The Relationship between Psychopathy Traits, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Forensic Populations: A Systematic PRISMA Review

“…Studies have found that ASPD and psychopathy are associated with adverse early life experiences, such as childhood abuse (e.g., [61]). For instance, an association has previously been found between a diagnosis of ASPD and severe trauma history (most notably an association between ASPD and high rates of physical and sexual abuse) (e.g., [62,63]). A number of studies have found associations between abuse history and psychopathy.…”

La victimisation, la polyvictimisation et la délinquance chez les enfants et les jeunes adultes au Royaume-Uni1

“…The relationship between maltreatment and victimization, particularly multiple victimization experiences, and delinquency in childhood has been of particular interest to criminologists (Burton 3 et al, 2011;Cuevas et al, 2007) and in identifying children at high risk of life course persistent offending behaviour (Egeland et al, 2002;Moffit et al, 2002;Wong et al, 2010). Spatz-Widom and Raskin-White (1997) found that abused and neglected females, but not males, are at significantly higher risk for substance abuse/dependence diagnoses and arrests for violent crimes than nonabused females.…”