Prediction of Sexual, Emotional, and Physical Maltreatment and Mental Health Outcomes in a Longitudinal Cohort of 290 Adolescent Women

Abstract

A longitudinal study of 290 Canadian females measured factors at ages 3, 6, 9, and 13 that predicted emotional, physical, and sexual maltreatment occurring up to the age of 16. Significant factors predicting maltreatment were early neurological status and difficult temperament, cognitive status, maternal stress, chronic poverty, negative family climate, weak bonding, and family disruption. There was complex interplay between these factors in predicting both maltreatment status and poor mental health at age 17. Sexual abuse retained a significant link with emotional (but not conduct) problems when effects of physical and emotional abuse were controlled for. Adolescents with a combination of prolonged rather than brief sexual abuse combined with other types of abuse, with a background of family disruption and poverty, and child's impaired coping skills (reflecting poorer cognitive capacity and central nervous system problems) were most likely to have markedly impaired emotional functioning at age 17.