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.

Importance of early neglect for childhood aggression.

Kotch JB, Lewis T, Hussey JM, English D, Thompson R, Litrownik AJ, Runyan DK, Bangdiwala SI, Margolis B, Dubowitz H

Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445, USA. jonathan_kotch@unc.edu

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to examine the association between early childhood neglect (birth to age 2 years) and later childhood aggression at ages 4, 6, and 8 years, compared with aggression's associations with early childhood abuse and later abuse and neglect. METHODS: A prospective cohort of 1318 predominantly at-risk children, recruited from 4 US cities and 1 southern state, were monitored from birth to 8 years of age. Maltreatment was determined through review of local child protective services records. A hierarchical, linear model approach, a special case of general, linear, mixed modeling, was used to predict aggressive behavior scores, as reported by the child's primary caregiver at ages 4, 6, and 8 years. RESULTS: Only early neglect significantly predicted aggression scores. Early abuse, later abuse, and later neglect were not significantly predictive in a controlled model with all 4 predictors. CONCLUSION: This longitudinal study suggests that child neglect in the first 2 years of life may be a more-important precursor of childhood aggression than later neglect or physical abuse at any age.

Published 2 April 2008 in Pediatrics, 121(4): 725-31.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

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