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Does Age of Onset of Risk Behaviors Mediate the Relationship Between Child Abuse and Neglect and Outcomes in Middle Adulthood?

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Abstract

Child maltreatment has been linked with a number of risk behaviors that are associated with long-lasting maladaptive outcomes across multiple domains of functioning. This study examines whether the ages of onset of four risk behaviors—sexual intercourse, alcohol use, drug use, and criminal behavior—mediate the relationship between child maltreatment and outcomes in middle adulthood among a sample of court-documented victims of child abuse/neglect and matched controls (N = 1,196; 51.7 % female; 66.2 % White, 32.6 % Black). Adult outcomes included employment status, welfare receipt, internalizing symptoms of anxiety and depressive symptoms, substance use problems, and criminal arrests. The results indicated gender differences in these relationships. For females, age of onset of sexual intercourse mediated the relationship between child abuse/neglect and both internalizing symptoms and substance use problems in middle adulthood. For males, age at first criminal arrest mediated the relationship between child abuse/neglect and extensive involvement in the justice system in middle adulthood. Age of onset of alcohol use and drug use did not mediate the relationship between child abuse/neglect and middle adult outcomes. This study expands current knowledge by identifying associations between early initiation of risk behavior in one domain and later, continuing problems in different domains. Thus, early initiation of specific risk behaviors may have more wide-ranging negative consequences than are typically considered during intervention or treatment and strategies may need to target multiple domains of functioning.

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Notes

  1. Physical and sexual abuse could not be examined separately due to the relatively small sample sizes of these subgroups.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by Grants from Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD (HD40774, HD072581), NIMH (MH49467 and MH58386), NIJ (86-IJ-CX-0033 and 89-IJ-CX-0007), NIDA (DA17842 and DA10060), NIAAA (AA09238 and AA11108) and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Points of view are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the United States Department of Justice or National Institutes of Health.

Author contributions

CSW collected the data used in this study as part of a larger prospective, longitudinal study examining the negative consequences of child abuse and neglect on developmental outcomes across the lifespan. JMH conceived of this specific study that uses these data, with CSW providing guidance and feedback to clarify research questions, hypotheses, and study design. JMH conducted the literature review, ran the study analyses, and drafted the manuscript. CSW extensively revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content and provided feedback on analytic revisions. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Psychology Department, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 524 W. 59th Street, Room 10.63.05, New York, NY, 10019, USA

    Jacqueline M. Horan & Cathy Spatz Widom

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  1. Jacqueline M. Horan
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  2. Cathy Spatz Widom
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Correspondence to Jacqueline M. Horan.

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Horan, J.M., Widom, C.S. Does Age of Onset of Risk Behaviors Mediate the Relationship Between Child Abuse and Neglect and Outcomes in Middle Adulthood?. J Youth Adolescence 44, 670–682 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0161-4

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