Child Abuse Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Child Abuse, including details on family violence, examinations, long-term effects, psychiatrics disorders.

The effect of lifetime victimization on the mental health of children and adolescents.

Turner HA, Finkelhor D, Ormrod R

Department of Sociology, Horton Social Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA. haturner@cisunix.unh.edu

This paper examines the cumulative prevalence of victimization and its impact on mental health in a nationally representative sample of 2030 children aged 2-17 in the USA. Telephone interviews conducted with both caregivers and youth revealed socio-demographic variations in lifetime exposure to most forms of victimization, with ethnic minorities, those lower in socio-economic status, and those living in single parent and stepfamilies experiencing greater victimization. Sexual assault, child maltreatment, witnessing family violence, and other major violence exposure each made independent contributions to levels of both depression and anger/aggression. Other non-victimization adversities also showed substantial independent effects, while in most cases, each victimization domain remained a significant predictor of mental health. Results suggest that cumulative exposure to multiple forms of victimization over a child's life-course represents a substantial source of mental health risk.

Published 29 November 2005 in Soc Sci Med, 62(1): 13-27.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Child Abuse Research Today. All Rights Reserved.