| Child maltreatment has been related to a number of negative outcomes during adolescence. However, researchers have not clearly specified the developmental stages when maltreatment occurs to see if there are differential effects. Typically, for example, previous measures of 'childhood maltreatment' combine two distinct types: those who were maltreated in childhood only and those who were maltreated during both childhood and adolescence. If the latter group actually drives the observed relationship. then there may be less of an empirical link between child maltreatment and later outcomes, unless maltreatment persists into adolescence. Adolescent maltreatment has also received very little attention. To examine these issues, data are drawn from the Rochester Youth Development Study, an ongoing longitudinal investigation of a representative community sample of adolescents, The Rochester project has information on substantiated cases of maltreatment among the sample subjects, including the developmental chronology of maltreatment incidents. Adolescent outcome measures include: delinquency. violence, drug and alcohol use, school dropout, teen parenthood and arrest histories, In this analysis, we examine the impact of the timing of maltreatment on these outcomes holding relevant variables constant. |
Updated 05/20/2006