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Social Support: A Mediator between Child Maltreatment and Developmental Outcomes

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The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between child maltreatment, social support, and developmental outcomes in first-year college students. Participants were 202 undergraduate students (137 female, 65 male) who completed surveys at two time points: once before entering college and once during their first year of college. It was hypothesized that child maltreatment would predict poorer developmental outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood, but that social support would mediate this relationship. Results indicated that child maltreatment related negatively to developmental outcomes and to perceived social support; adolescent and young adult development related positively to perceived social support. In addition, a mediational model in which social support mediates child maltreatment and developmental outcomes was supported.

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Notes

  1. Identification labels for purposes of matching Time 1 data to Time 2 data were constructed based on the day of birth of the participant (1-31), the participant's mother's maiden name, and the square root of the last four digits of the participant's student Social Security number; this is information that can be reproduced easily by a participant but attaches no identity to a participant's data.

  2. Of the students who were contacted but did not participate at Time 2, most had previously completed the partial course credit that they would have received as a benefit from this study (10.6% of those contacted), and others either were unavailable to attend survey sessions (4.6%) or did not respond when contacted (2.8%).

  3. Analyses were initially performed that also included participants who experienced psychological aggression. However, to make the maltreatment composite more exclusive, psychological aggression was excluded from the composite. Results of initial analyses including all four types of maltreatment (psychological aggression, neglect, CSA, and physical abuse) mimic those reported here.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Toni Bisconti, Carolyn Mebert, and Ellen Cohn for their feedback on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychology and Child Life, Utica College. This research was conducted while at the Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire. Major research interests include adolescent development, development in adulthood, and child maltreatment. To whom correspondence should addressed at Department of Psychology and Child Life, Division of Health and Human Studies Utica College, 1600 Burrstone Road, Utica, NY, 13502, USA

    Elise N. Pepin

  2. Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire. Major research interests include long term mental health consequences of interpersonal violence, New Hampshire, USA

    Victoria L. Banyard

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  1. Elise N. Pepin
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Correspondence to Elise N. Pepin.

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Pepin, E.N., Banyard, V.L. Social Support: A Mediator between Child Maltreatment and Developmental Outcomes. J Youth Adolescence 35, 612–625 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9063-4

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