Child Maltreatment and Aggressive Behaviors in Early Adolescence: Evidence of Moderation by Parent/Child Relationship Quality

Abstract

The cycle of violence suggests that maltreatment increases children’s aggression, but research shows that many children are resilient to the harms caused by maltreatment. This study examines whether or not parent/child relationship quality accounts for variation in the impact of maltreatment on aggression and hypothesizes that the effect will be weaker for children who have better relationships with their caregivers. Race differences in these effects are also examined. Based on prospective data from a high-risk sample of 620 (207 White and 413 Black) families in the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect, ordinary least squares regression analyses indicated that youth with at least one official allegation of maltreatment before age 10 had significantly more frequent aggressive behaviors at age 12. The direct effect of maltreatment on aggression did not vary for Black and White youth. However, a significant three-way interaction indicated that parent/child relationship quality buffered the relationship between maltreatment and aggressive behaviors for White but not Black children. Although additional research is required to identify factors that ameliorate the impact of maltreatment for Black youth, the findings support the need for interventions to help children cope with maltreatment and to strengthen parent/child relationships.

Keywords

aggressive behavior child maltreatment parent–child relationships ethnic minority populations attachment

Child maltreatment affects millions of families each year and has substantial financial costs to society. Rates of abuse and neglect have increased since 2010, with 4.1 million allegations of maltreatment made to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies in the United States in 2016, and 676,000 unique children substantiated as victims, a rate of 9.1 victims per 1,000 children (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2018). The rate of maltreatment is even greater for Blacks, at 13.9 victims per 1,000 children (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2018). The economic burden of substantiated cases of maltreatment was about 428 billion dollars in 2015, and costs were substantially higher (about 2 trillion dollars) when considering allegations as well as substantiations (Peterson, Florence, & Klevens, 2018).

Maltreatment is not only prevalent and costly, but also harmful, and has been associated with a variety of short- and long-term negative consequences (Institute of Medicine [IOM] & National Research Council [NRC], 2014; Jaffee, 2017; Norman et al., 2012). As articulated in the cycle of violence theory (e.g., Widom, 1989) and demonstrated in empirical literature (Braga, Goncalves, Basto-Pereira, & Maia, 2017; Fitton, Yu, & Fazel, 2018; Norman et al., 2012), child maltreatment can increase the likelihood of aggressive and/or violent behaviors. However, there is also evidence that many victims of child abuse and neglect are resilient and do not engage in such behaviors (Klitka & Herrenkohl, 2013; Widom, 2017). Such findings indicate the need for research to identify protective factors that can moderate the effects of maltreatment. For example, some suggest that the impact of maltreatment may vary according to the parent/child affective bond, with children who experience more parent warmth hypothesized to be more resilient to the negative consequences of abuse and neglect (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997; Lau, Litrownik, Newton, Black, & Everson, 2006), but few studies have examined this relationship.

The current study seeks to fill this research gap and investigates whether maltreatment experienced in childhood increases aggressive behaviors like threatening others and/or fighting in early adolescence. Although it is important to understand the long-term impact of maltreatment, early adolescence is the developmental period in which violent behaviors tend to emerge and increase in prevalence, and children who display aggression and violence early in life are more likely to engage in frequent, violent behaviors later in adolescence and into adulthood (Blumstein, Cohen, Roth, & Visher, 1986; Farrington, 2003). Understanding the factors that predict and protect against aggression and violence, and the populations most at risk of experiencing the negative consequences of maltreatment, is important to inform efforts to reduce negative responses and increase resilience to maltreatment. To that end, this study also investigates whether or not the direct effect of maltreatment on aggression, and the possible moderation by parent/child relationship quality, vary by race. These differences are examined given the overrepresentation of Black children in official data on maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2018), the fact that some studies have shown race differences in the impact of maltreatment (Malvaso, Delfabbro, & Day, 2016; Widom, 2014), and some suggestion that the family context of maltreatment may vary for Whites and Blacks (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997).

Literature Review

Theoretical Explanations of the Cycle of Violence

Several theoretical mechanisms have been used to explain the impact of maltreatment on aggression and violence (Malvaso, Day, Casey, & Corrado, 2017). Social learning theories (Patterson, 1982; Widom, 1989) posit that children exposed to violence may come to view such behaviors as normative and mimic these behaviors later in life when interacting with others. Other theories contend that the strain (Agnew, 1992) and trauma (Ford, 2002; Ford, Chapman, Mack, & Pearson, 2006; Malvaso, Day, et al., 2017) produced by victimization lead to emotional problems and oppositional and aggressive behaviors as coping strategies. Maltreatment is especially likely to jeopardize children’s ability to empathize with others and regulate their emotions, lead them to misread social cues, and increase the likelihood that they will interpret nonthreatening interactions as hostile, all of which may foster aggression (Dodge, Bates, & Pettit, 1990; Ford, 2002; Kerig, Bennett, Thompson, & Becker, 2012).

The current study is guided by attachment (Bowlby, 1969, 1973) and social bond (Hirschi, 1969) theories that emphasize that secure, positive attachments between parents and children promote successful development and that insecure, weak attachments can lead to antisocial and aggressive behaviors. Social bond theory, which seeks to explain the causes of youth delinquency, posits that variation in the strength of one’s bonds to society explains differential involvement in antisocial behaviors (Hirschi, 1969). Those with strong bonds are likely to care about the opinions and expectations of others and will, as a result, conform to social expectations, while those with weak attachments are free to act in opposition to social regulations (Hirschi, 1969). According to both attachment and social bond theories, children’s bonds to parent are critical because parents provide the first opportunities for youth to learn how to interact with others, and children apply these lessons to all subsequent interactions (Cicchetti & Toth, 2005). Parents who are responsive and loving toward their children promote strong, positive bonds, while unresponsive, hostile, and/or abusive parents weaken bonds and can make children feel unimportant, anxious, and angry (Bowlby, 1973; Crittenden & Ainsworth, 1989). Empirical research has supported this premise, indicating that maltreated children have very insecure, weak attachment to caregivers (Cyr, Euser, Bakersmans-Kranenburg, & Van Ijzendoorn, 2010).

While the impact of maltreatment on parent/child bonds has empirical support, there has been little examination of Hirschi’s (1969) hypothesis that variation in levels of parent/child attachment explains differences in levels of aggression. To address this gap in research, the current study investigates the potential moderating effect of parent/child attachment, specifically whether or not maltreatment increases aggression more for victims who have weak affective relationships with their caregivers compared to those with stronger relationships. Although victims of maltreatment are likely to have lower levels of attachment to their caregivers compared to nonvictims, there may still be differences in attachment within the maltreated population (Crittenden & Ainsworth, 1989; Cyr et al., 2010), and this variation provides an opportunity to investigate whether attachment moderates the maltreatment/aggression relationship.

Empirical Evidence for the Cycle of Violence

Research to date generally demonstrates the direct effect of maltreatment on a variety of antisocial behaviors (Braga et al., 2017; Fitton et al., 2018; Jaffee, 2017). For example, one meta-analysis that included only longitudinal studies reported a significant but small association (.11) betweeen maltreatment and aggressive behaviors in adolescence (Braga et al., 2017). Another meta-analysis that included cross-sectional and longitudinal research found that physical abuse and neglect each doubled the odds of child behavioral problems (Norman et al., 2012).

Some research has examined effects of maltreatment on externalizing or aggressive behaviors in early adolescence, similar to the current study. For example, analyses of prospective data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), the data set used in the current study, have found that chronic maltreatment (i.e., multiple official allegations) prior to age 12 predicted growth in children’s externalizing behaviors through age 12 (Li & Godinet, 2014) and that chronic physical abuse increased aggression and delinquency when youth were aged 14 (Logan-Greene & Jones, 2015). In addition, a longitudinal study of low-income, minority youth from Chicago found that maltreatment experienced before age 12 predicted more externalizing behaviors at ages 9–14 (Topitzes, Mersky, & Reynolds, 2012). However, other research has not found a significant relationship between maltreatment and externalizing behaviors when controlling for other parenting or family characteristics that could be related to maltreatment and/or outcomes (Braga et al., 2017; Jaffee & Maikovich-Fong, 2011). In addition, literature reviews estimate that about 12–33% of maltreated children are resilient to its adverse effects and are not at greater risk of negative outcomes (Jaffee, 2017; Widom, 2017).

These mixed findings suggest that protective factors may ameliorate the impact of maltreatment, including the possibility that children who experience more parent warmth and support will be more resilient than those with weaker bonds (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997; Lau et al., 2006; Ungar, 2013). Consistent with this premise, a few studies have indicated that social support experienced within or outside the family context buffers the negative impact of child maltreatment (Jaffee, 2017; Widom, 2017). In addition, some research has shown that parent/child warmth and cohesion reduce the impact of harsh physical discipline on child externalizing behaviors (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997; Y. Lee & Watson, 2017). However, few studies have tested whether or not the impact of maltreatment on aggression is mitigated for those who experience strong attachment to their parents. Additional research is needed to test this premise, especially those that draw on prospective data. Many prior studies have relied on cross-sectional data that cannot control for the temporal ordering between maltreatment and subsequent behaviors (Norman et al., 2012) and the possibility that children’s aggressive behaviors may elicit maltreatment from parents (Loeber, Burke, & Pardini, 2009).

Race Differences in the Relationship Between Maltreatment and Aggressive Behaviors

Prior research suggests some race differences in the cycle of violence (Malvaso et al., 2016). Based on official data of maltreatment, Widom (Maxfield & Widom, 1996; Widom, 1989) found that Black victims were more likely to have a juvenile violent arrest record compared to nonvictims. This relationship was not significant for Whites, but both Black and White victims were more likely than nonvictims to have a juvenile arrest for a nonviolent offense (Maxfield & Widom, 1996). Additional studies relying on official data from the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have indicated that, among samples of maltreated youth, Black (Goodkind, Shook, Kim, Pohlig, & Herring, 2013; Jonson-Reid, 2002) and Indigenous youth (Malvaso, Delfabbro, & Day, 2017) were more likely to be convicted or incarcerated as juveniles compared to White youth. Although these studies suggest that the cycle of violence is stronger for minority youth, they cannot rule out the possibility that effects are related to the oversurveillance of minority youth and families that contributes to their overrepresentation in official data (Clear, 2007; Derezotes, Poertner, & Testa, 2005; Rios, 2011).

Longitudinal research relying on self-reported antisocial behaviors has produced less evidence of race differences. For example, one longitudinal study found that child physical abuse (experienced in kindergarten) had a stronger effect on self-reported delinquency in adolescence (Lansford et al., 2002) and on delinquency and violence at age 21 (Lansford et al., 2007) for African American compared to White participants. However, race differences were not found in a longitudinal study of males that examined the impact of officially substantiated maltreatment (experienced before age 11) on adolescent violence (C. Lee et al., 2012). In addition, a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies indicated that race was not a statistically significant moderator of the relationship between maltreatment and adolescent antisocial behaviors (Braga et al., 2017).

These findings suggest that the impact of maltreatment on adolescent antisocial behaviors may or may not differ for Whites and Blacks. Whether or not race differences exist when examining aggression in early adolescence is uncertain since almost no literature has investigated this relationship. One analysis of LONGSCAN data found no differences between Black and White children in the effect of maltreatment experienced before age 4 on change in externalizing (i.e., aggressive and delinquent) behaviors from ages 4 to 12 (Godinet, Li, & Berg, 2014). The current study will add to the very limited body of research by examining the impact of maltreatment experienced at any point in childhood (up to age 10) on aggression at age 12.

There is also limited research investigating whether parent/child bonds moderate the impact of maltreatment on aggression for both Black and White youth. Deater-Deckard and Dodge (1997) have suggested that the negative effects of physical abuse will vary according to whether or not the parent/child relationship is “warm” or “cold” and that Black children may have stronger affective bonds with their parents compared to White children. If so, the impact of abuse and maltreatment on aggression may be weaker for Blacks compared to Whites, not stronger, as suggested in a few studies. However, this hypothesis has not yet been tested; almost no research has examined the interrelationships between maltreatment, parent/child bonds, and race. The current research seeks to fill this gap by addressing three research questions: (1) Does child maltreatment increase the frequency of aggression in early adolescence? (2) Does the impact of maltreatment on aggression vary according to parent/child relationship quality? (3) Do the direct and moderating effects of maltreatment on aggression differ for White and Black youth? Unlike much prior research, these questions are examined using prospective data from LONGSCAN.

Method

Study Design and Participants

The LONGSCAN project was initiated in 1990 to investigate the causes and consequences of child maltreatment using prospective data from families in five regions (Baltimore, Chapel Hill, Chicago, San Diego, and Seattle) of the United States (Runyan et al., 1998). The baseline sample included 1,354 children aged 4–6 years old and their primary caregivers. Caregivers were primarily female and the majority (about 65%) were children’s biological mothers, while about 10% were adoptive mothers, 8% were grandmothers, about 5% were biological fathers, and the rest were other relatives and nonrelatives. The sample is characterized as “high-risk” because families were selected that had an official record of maltreatment or were considered at risk of maltreatment due to low socioeconomic status, maternal substance use, and other risk factors. At baseline, 52% of the 1,354 youth participants were female and 48% were male, 53% were Black, 26% were White, 7% were Hispanic, and 14% reported their race/ethnicity as mixed or Other. Only 32% of households contained married parents, and 62% of primary caregivers reported receipt of welfare.

Prospective data were collected from children and caregivers every year or two from baseline to age 18. The current study relies on information from baseline to age 12 from only White and Black participants given the small number of youth in other racial/ethnic groups. At the age 12 interview, 763 caregivers (241 Whites and 522 Blacks) provided information on aggression, representing 71% of the 1,075 White and Black participants recruited at baseline. Those who left the study prior to the age 12 interview did not significantly differ from those who remained on child maltreatment, parent/child relationship quality, or race. Analyses are based on those who provided complete information on the dependent as well as independent variables (N = 674; 223 Whites and 451 Blacks).

Measures

Measures are based on data from CPS agencies and caregivers. The study examined the impact of maltreatment on aggression in early adolescence, measured at age 12, with maltreatment measured from ages 0 to 10 to capture episodes occurring at any point in childhood and preceding aggression. Table 1 provides descriptive information on all study variables.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics, for the Analysis Sample and by Race.

Variable	Total Sample (N = 674)	Whites (n = 223)	Blacks (n = 451)
Mean scores (SD)
Aggressive behaviors	9.38 (7.17)	10.78 (7.87)	8.69 (6.70)**
Age	12.39 (0.45)	12.36 (0.48)	12.41 (0.43)
Household income	5.71 (3.12)	7.12 (3.25)	5.02 (2.82)**
Caregiver depression	11.49 (10.10)	10.79 (10.98)	11.83 (9.57)
Relationship quality	26.31 (2.70)	25.60 (2.69)	26.65 (2.64)**
Percentage
Any maltreatment	62.61	78.03	54.99**
Sex (female)	49.70	47.09	51.00
Two-parent household	36.20	54.71	27.05**
Parent crime	28.93	33.63	26.61

**p < .05 based on analysis of variance for continuous variables (aggression, age, income, depression, and relationship quality) and χ² analysis for binary variables (maltreatment, sex, two-parent household, and parent crime).

Dependent variable—Aggressive behaviors

The dependent variable, the frequency of aggressive behaviors, was reported by the primary caregiver at the age 12 interview using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991). The CBCL Aggression subscale asks caregivers to report the degree to which 20 behaviors (e.g., destroys other’s belongings, disobedient at school, gets in many fights) were true of their children in the past 6 months. Items were rated on a 3-point Likert-type scale (0 = not true, 1 = sometimes true, 2 = very true or often true) and summed to create a continuous measure of the frequency of aggressive behaviors (α = .91).

Independent variables

Child maltreatment is a binary variable based on official data from CPS agencies in the states participating in LONGSCAN. LONGSCAN staff reviewed CPS records for all study participants every 2 years and recorded the timing and type of maltreatment using the Modified Maltreatment Coding System (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993). Similar to national CPS data on maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2018), LONGSCAN participants were most likely to have official allegations of neglect (55% of the sample), followed by emotional abuse (29%), physical abuse (27%), and sexual abuse (13%).¹ Many children experienced multiple types of maltreatment. Given this overlap, analyses focused on the impact of experiencing any type of maltreatment, with individuals considered to be victims if they had at least one official allegation² of any type of abuse or neglect from ages 0 to 10.

Child and family demographic characteristics were included as control variables. Children’s age at the age 12 survey is a continuous measure based on date of birth. Children’s sex (female = 1) is based on caregiver reports at baseline. Family structure (i.e., two-parent household) is a binary indicator derived from the primary caregiver’s report at the age 12 interview of whether the youth resided with two caregivers (coded as “1”) or not (i.e., resided with one caregiver, other relatives, or nonrelatives). Household income was based on reports from the primary maternal caregiver at the age 12 interview. Caregivers reported the total annual income of the household using an 11-category ordinal scale ranging from less than 5,000 dollars (coded “1”) to greater than 50,000 dollars (coded “11”). Children’s race was a binary variable (White = 0, Black = 1) based on caregiver reports at the baseline interview.

The analyses included two caregiver characteristics associated with child maltreatment and/or aggression (Cicchetti & Toth, 2005; IOM & NRC, 2014; Sedlak et al., 2010). Caregiver criminality was based on primary caregiver reports from annual surveys when children were aged 6–12 as to whether or not the child’s female or male caregiver was arrested or incarcerated in the prior year. Responses were summed to create a binary variable that indicated whether or not either caregiver had been arrested or incarcerated (coded as “1”) at any time. Caregiver depression was based on the primary maternal caregiver reports at the age 12 interview of the frequency of 20 depressive symptoms (e.g., “I feel sad,” “I could not get going,” and “I had crying spells”) using items from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977). Symptoms were rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale (0 = never, 1 = sometimes, 2 = occasionally, 3 = most of the time), and items were summed to form a continuous measure in which higher scores indicate more depressive symptoms (α = .80).

Parent/child relationship quality was reported by primary caregivers at the age 12 survey. Caregivers responded to 6 items adapted from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health (Resnick et al., 1997) that assessed feelings of closeness and trust between the parent and child (e.g., How close do you feel to your child? Do you get along? How much do you care about child?). Each item was rated on 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = never/not at all to 5 = always/very much), and items were summed to form a continuous measure (α = .69).

Statistical Analysis

Analyses were performed in STATA Version 15 (StataCorp, 2017). Ordinary least squares regression analysis was used to estimate results given the continuous dependent variable. Robust standard errors were used since LONGSCAN participants were drawn from five sites. The relationship between maltreatment and aggression (Research Question 1) was first examined for the full sample. Model 1 included only maltreatment and the child/family demographic control variables. In Model 2, caregiver criminality, depression, and parent/child relationship quality were added. To answer Research Question 2, Model 3 included a variable representing the interaction of maltreatment and relationship quality. To address Research Question 3, a variable representing the interaction of maltreatment and race, then a variable representing the three-way interaction of maltreatment, relationship quality, and race were entered into the regression analyses. Then, separate analyses were conducted for White and Black participants.

Results

Table 1 provides descriptive statistics for the full sample and by race. Consistent with the high-risk nature of the sample, almost two thirds (63%) of participants had at least one allegation of maltreatment prior to age 10, and only about one third (36%) of children lived in two-parent homes. However, caregiver criminality was not common, and caregivers reported relatively low levels of depression and high scores on relationship quality. Some race differences were evident. White youth had a greater frequency of aggression, a greater likelihood of allegations of maltreatment, and lower levels of parent/child relationship quality. Black children were less likely to live in two-parent homes, and they resided in lower income households.

Table 2 provides the results of the ordinary least squares regression analyses for the full sample. When only demographic characteristics were in the model (Model 1), youth with one or more official allegations of maltreatment had a significantly greater frequency of aggressive behaviors (b = 2.55). This relationship remained statistically significant in Model 2, when the caregiver characteristics and relationship quality were added. As anticipated, children with more depressed caregivers had more frequent aggressive behaviors (b = 0.12), and those with better relationship quality had less frequent aggression (b = −1.10). The results shown in Model 3 indicate that parent/child relationship did not moderate the impact of maltreatment on aggression; the interaction term (b = −0.09) was not statistically significant. The results shown in Model 4 indicate that race did not moderate the impact of maltreatment on aggression (b = −0.78). However, the three-way interaction between maltreatment, relationship quality, and race was statistically significant (b = 1.15) as shown in Model 5.

Table 2.

The Relationship Between any Child Maltreatment (CM) and the Frequency of Aggressive Behaviors (Full Sample).

Predictor	Model 1 (n = 710)	Model 2 (n = 674)	Model 3 (n = 674)	Model 4 (n = 674)	Model 5 (n = 674)
Any maltreatment	2.55*** (0.32)	1.81*** (0.34)	4.09 (4.44)	2.40 (0.77)	23.73** (5.85)
Age	0.48 (0.35)	0.33 (0.17)	0.33 (0.17)	0.34 (0.19)	0.48 (0.19)
Female	−1.39** (0.39)	−1.59*** (0.31)	−1.58*** (0.30)	−1.60*** (0.32)	−1.74*** (0.33)
Two-parent home	−1.41** (0.37)	−1.03 (0.41)	−1.02 (0.40)	−1.01 (0.40)	−1.01 (0.40)
Income	−0.12 (0.08)	−0.07 (0.09)	−0.07 (0.09)	−0.07 (0.09)	−0.08 (0.09)
Race	−2.13 (0.88)	−0.99 (0.81)	−0.96 (0.82)	−0.42 (0.64)	9.39 (4.43)
Caregiver crime	—	0.40 (0.36)	0.39 (0.35)	0.39 (0.36)	0.40 (0.38)
Depression	—	0.12** (0.03)	0.12** (0.03)	0.12** (0.03)	0.12** (0.03)
Relationship quality (RQ)	—	−1.10*** (0.07)	−1.04*** (0.06)	−1.09*** (0.07)	−0.73*** (0.13)
CM × RQ	—	—	−0.09 (0.17)	—	—
CM × Race	—	—	—	−0.78 (0.80)	—
CM × RQ × Race	—	—	—	—	1.15** (0.33)
	5.11 (5.36)	33.75*** (3.60)	33.26*** (4.11)	32.98*** (3.75)	21.64*** (4.53)

Note. Based on ordinary least squares regression analysis. Results are presented as unstandardized coefficients. “Robust standard errors” (in parentheses) were estimated to take clustering of participants by site into account.

**p < .05. ***p < .01.

To better understand the three-way interaction, the regression models were run separately for White and Black respondents. As shown in Table 3, Model 1, for both White and Black youth, having an allegation of maltreatment significantly increased the frequency of aggressive behaviors, controlling for demographic characteristics (b = 3.98 for Whites, b = 2.01 for Blacks), and the relationships remained significant when caregiver characteristics and relationship quality were added (see Model 2). In addition, for Whites and Blacks, children with higher scores on relationship quality had significantly less frequent aggression (b = −1.45 for Whites, b = −0.93 for Blacks). However, relationship quality moderated the impact of maltreatment on aggression for Whites only. The interaction term was statistically significant and negative (b = −0.69), indicating a weaker effect of maltreatment on aggression for those with better relationships with caregivers, compared to those with worse relationships. This interaction is depicted in Figure 1, which shows the frequency of aggression among White youth who scored 1 standard deviation below the mean on relationship quality, at the mean level, and 1 standard deviation above the mean. As indicated by the steeper slope, the relationship between maltreatment and aggression was strongest for those whose scores on relationship quality were below the mean, while the impact of maltreatment on aggression was minimal for those with scores above the mean.

Table 3.

The Relationship Between any Child Maltreatment (CM) and the Frequency of Aggressive Behaviors, by Race.

Predictor	Whites			Blacks
Predictor	Model 1 (n = 230)	Model 2 (n = 223)	Model 3 (n = 223)	Model 1 (n = 480)	Model 2 (n = 451)	Model 3 (n = 451)
Maltreatment	3.98*** (0.78)	2.19** (0.57)	22.38** (4.83)	2.01*** (0.31)	1.54** (0.44)	−7.81 (5.29)
Age	−0.66 (0.70)	0.22 (0.55)	0.11 (0.55)	1.11 (0.71)	0.54 (0.50)	0.57 (0.54)
Female	−0.58 (0.69)	−1.08 (0.50)	−1.30 (0.57)	−1.78 (0.77)	−1.87** (0.49)	−1.97** (0.48)
Two-parent	−1.42 (0.85)	−1.09 (0.84)	−1.07 (0.77)	−1.24 (0.58)	−0.92 (0.61)	−0.92 (0.61)
Income	−0.17 (0.10)	−0.16 (0.08)	−0.16 (0.07)	−0.10 (0.07)	−0.05 (0.11)	−0.06 (0.12)
Caregiver crime		−1.04 (0.86)	−0.98 (0.85)		1.04 (0.78)	1.10 (0.76)
Depression		0.11** (0.04)	0.12** (0.04)		0.11 (0.05)	0.11 (0.05)
Relationship quality (RQ)		−1.45*** (0.12)	−0.69*** (0.14)		−0.93*** (0.08)	−1.11*** (0.08)
CM × RQ			−0.77** (0.17)			0.35 (0.20)
Constant	17.97 (8.95)	44.86** (7.83)	28.63 (5.77)	−4.55 (9.04)	25.65** (6.345)	30.22** (8.00)

Note. Based on ordinary least squares regression analysis. Results are presented as unstandardized coefficients. “Robust standard errors” (in parentheses) were estimated to take clustering of participants by site into account.

**p < .05. ***p < .01.

Figure 1.

The moderating effect of parent/child relationship quality on the relationship between child maltreatment and aggression.

Discussion

This article examined the relationship between child maltreatment and aggression in early adolescence, whether parent/child attachment moderated this relationship, and potential race differences in these relationships. The results were mostly consistent with theory and prior literature. Children who had at least one official allegation of maltreatment between ages 0 and 10 had significantly greater frequency of aggressive behaviors at age 12. This relationship remained significant controlling for demographic characteristics (e.g., child age, sex, and household income) and caregiver factors (i.e., criminality and depression) that may be related to maltreatment and/or child aggression. The results support prior research showing a positive relationship between maltreatment and aggression and antisocial behaviors in middle to late adolescence (Braga et al., 2017; Fitton et al., 2018; Norman et al., 2012) and extend this research to suggest that maltreatment may also increase aggression in early adolescence.

The findings also indicated that parent/child relationship quality affected aggression. For both White and Black children, parent/child attachment had the expected direct effect on aggressive behaviors. Children with closer, warmer relationships with parents had less frequent aggression than those with weaker bonds, a finding consistent with attachment (Bowlby, 1969) and social bond (Hirschi, 1969) theories. Relationship quality also moderated the effect of maltreatment on aggression, but only for White children. For these youth, the impact of maltreatment was strongest for those who had the poorest relationships with their mothers, whereas maltreatment had a minimal effect when relationship quality was strong.

Although a few studies have shown that social support ameliorates the impact of maltreatment (Jaffee, 2017; Widom, 2017), almost no research has examined the interrelationship between maltreatment, aggression, parent/child relationships, and race. However, some have speculated that Black youth have closer relationships with their parents than Whites and that their stronger ties better protect them against the negative impact of maltreatment (Deater-Deckard & Dodge, 1997). Consistent with this premise, the Black LONGSCAN participants had significantly higher scores than Whites on parent/child relationship quality, and it could be that the maltreated Black youth had strong enough bonds with their parents to reduce aggression. Although maltreated youth have been shown, on average, to have weak attachments to caregivers (Cyr et al., 2010), it is possible that bonds can be restored over time. Perhaps Black families in the current study were better able than Whites to strengthen their bonds during the lag between measurement of maltreatment (ages 0–10) and relationship quality (age 12). Alternatively, Black children may have had more social support than Whites from other adults or family members, and these positive relationships may have been more helpful than their bonds to parents in coping with maltreatment. It is also important to note that, in contrast to national estimates (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2018), White participants in LONGSCAN were significantly more likely than Blacks to have at least one official allegation of maltreatment during childhood. Their greater likelihood of maltreatment could have increased White children’s sensitivity to the protective effect of a strong parent/child bond. These are all only speculations, however, and more research is needed to understand race differences in the protective effects of parent/child relationship quality and to identify additional factors that can reduce the negative impact of maltreatment for Black children.

Although the protective effect of parent/child relationship varied by race, maltreatment had a similar direct effect of aggression for White and Black youth. These results are consistent with a meta-analysis indicating that race did not significantly moderate the impact of maltreatment on adolescent antisocial behaviors (Braga et al., 2017). Nonetheless, some studies have reported race differences in the cycle of violence, suggesting that future research should continue to examine whether the effects of maltreatment on aggression or other antisocial behaviors vary across racial/ethnic groups. Such research should avoid relying solely on official reports of maltreatment and illegal behaviors, given the potential for bias in these statistics related to race/ethnicity (Clear, 2007; Derezotes et al., 2005; Rios, 2011). Future research should also examine whether race differences can be explained by differences in socioeconomic status, given racial disparities in income and education (Clear, 2007; Pew Research Center, 2013).

Additional research is also required to address methodological limitations of the current study. Given the high proportion of youth in this sample that experienced multiple types of maltreatment, analyses investigated the impact of any maltreatment type rather than the unique effects of specific types of abuse and neglect. Similarly, analyses did not assess the frequency, severity, or chronicity of maltreatment or the number of types of maltreatment experienced. It is important that future studies explore how different characteristics of maltreatment affect outcomes. In addition, this study analyzed the impact of maltreatment allegations, not substantiations, and findings may be different when limited to substantiated cases.

A strength of the study is its reliance on independent sources to measure maltreatment (official data) and aggression (caregivers), which avoids the potential for same-source reporting bias. However, official records are known to underestimate maltreatment (Moody, Cannings-John, Hood, Kemp, & Robling, 2018), and caregivers may not have accurately reported their children’s frequency of aggression, especially if some aggressive behaviors occurred outside of the home. Another limitation of this study is that it did not examine whether levels of parent/child relationship quality differed for children who experienced maltreatment from caregivers and noncaregivers or whether the potential buffering effect of relationship quality depended on perpetrator type. Additional research is needed to explore these issues, including longitudinal studies that can explore changes in relationship quality over time when parents are perpetrators of maltreatment, and whether such changes influence the development of children’s aggression.

Despite these limitations, the current findings are substantively important and relevant for policy and practice. Given that individuals who display aggressive and violent behaviors early in adolescence are more likely to engage in violence later in life (Blumstein et al., 1986; Farrington, 2003), the findings emphasize the need to intervene with maltreated children to stop this progression. A variety of interventions have been shown to reduce trauma symptoms and increase resilience among maltreated youth³ (U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2011). Some provide services to the entire family, while others focus on children. For example, Parent–Child Interaction Therapy can be delivered with parents and children involved in the child welfare system to improve parent/child interactions and reduce children’s behavioral problems (Chaffin, Funderburk, Bard, Valle, & Gurwitch, 2011; Chaffin et al., 2004). School-based programs, like Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), also exist. CBITS teaches cognitive behavioral techniques to middle and high students who have experienced trauma to help them cope with their experiences (Stein et al., 2003). Increasing the use of these interventions in communities will help promote resilience.

Although parent/child relationship quality ameliorated the impact of maltreatment on aggression only for Whites in this study, it reduced the frequency of aggressive behaviors for both White and Black youth. These results support the delivery of family-focused interventions shown to improve parent/child relationships and reduce child aggression and antisocial behaviors (Sandler, Ingram, Wolchik, Tein, & Winslow, 2015). Some of these programs are culturally specific, developed to target risk factors that are salient for particular groups. For example, the Strong African American Families program is designed for Black parents and their adolescent children (Brody et al., 2004). It has been demonstrated to reduce delinquency by increasing parent/child communication, promoting more positive parent/child bonds, and teaching youth how to cope with experiences of discrimination (Brody, Kogan, Yi-fu, & McBride Murry, 2008). Widespread delivery of these types of family interventions can help to promote more positive parent/child bonds and reduce aggression.

Footnotes

Author’s Note

The data used in this study were made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN). NDACAN does not bear any responsibility for the analyses or conclusions presented here.

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges Joshua Gostel, whose undergraduate honor’s thesis examined race differences in the cycle of violence. His thesis, as well as a related paper (with Dr. Chris L. Gibson) presented at the 2016 Society for Prevention Research annual conference provided the impetus for the current study.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Abigail A. Fagan

Notes

References

Achenbach

T. M.

(1991). Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont.

Agnew

(1992). Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology, 30, 47–88.

Barnett

Manly

J. T.

Cicchetti

(1993). Defining child maltreatment: The interface between policy and research. In Cicchetti

Toth

S. L.

(Eds.), Advances in applied developmental psychology: Child abuse, child development and social policy (pp. 7–73). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Blumstein

Cohen

Roth

J. A.

Visher

C. A.

(Eds.). (1986). Criminal careers and “career criminals” (Vol. I: Report of the panel on research on criminal careers, national research council). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Bowlby

(1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. I. Attachment. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Bowlby

(1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. II. Separation anxiety and loss. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Braga

Goncalves

L. C.

Basto-Pereira

Maia

(2017). Unraveling the link between maltreatment and juvenile antisocial behavior: A meta-analysis of prospective longitudinal studies. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 33, 37–50.

Brody

G. H.

Kogan

S. M.

Yi-fu

McBride Murry

(2008). Long-term effects of the strong African American families program on youths’ conduct problems. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43, 474–481.

Brody

G. H.

McBride Murry

Gerrard

Gibbons

F. X.

Molgaard

McNair

… Neubaum-Carlan

(2004). The strong African American families program: Translating research into prevention programming. Child Development, 75, 900–917.

10.

Chaffin

Funderburk

Bard

Valle

L. A.

Gurwitch

(2011). A combined motivation and parent–child interaction therapy package reduces child welfare recidivism in a randomized dismantling field trial. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 79, 84–95.

11.

Chaffin

Silovsky

J. F.

Funderburk

Valle

L. A.

Brestan

E. V.

Balachova

… Bonner

B. L.

(2004). Parent–child interaction therapy with physically abusive parents: Efficacy for reducing future abuse reports. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 72, 500–510.

12.

Cicchetti

Toth

S. L.

(2005). Child maltreatment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 409–438.

13.

Clear

(2007). Imprisoning communities: How mass incarceration makes disadvantaged neighborhoods worse. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

14.

Crittenden

P. M.

Ainsworth

M. D. S.

(1989). Child maltreatment and attachment theory. In Cicchetti

Carlson

(Eds.), Child maltreatment: Theory and research (pp. 432–463). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

15.

Cyr

Euser

E. M.

Bakersmans-Kranenburg

M. J.

Van Ijzendoorn

M. H.

(2010). Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: A series of meta-analyses. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 87–108.

16.

Deater-Deckard

Dodge

K. A.

(1997). Externalizing behavior problems and discipline revisited: Nonlinear effects and variation by culture, context, and gender. Psychological Inquiry, 8, 161–175.

17.

Derezotes

D. M.

Poertner

Testa

M. F.

(Eds.). (2005). Race matters in child welfare: The overrepresentation of African American children in the system. Washington, DC: The Child Welfare League of America.

18.

Dodge

K. A.

Bates

J. E.

Pettit

G. S.

(1990). Mechanisms in the cycle of violence. Science, 250, 1678–1683.

19.

Farrington

D. P.

(2003). Developmental and life-course criminology: Key theoretical and empirical issues-the 2002 sutherland award address. Criminology, 41, 221–255.

20.

Fitton

Fazel

. (2018). Childhood maltreatment and violent outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Trauma, Violence & Abuse. doi:10.1177/1524838018795269

21.

Flaherty

E. G.

Thompson

Litrownik

A. J.

Zolotor

A. J.

Dubowitz

Runyan

… Everson

M. D.

(2009). Adverse childhood exposures and reported child health at age 12. Academic Pediatrics, 9, 150–160.

22.

Ford

J. D.

(2002). Traumatic victimization in childhood and persistent problems with oppositional-defiance. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 6, 25–58.

23.

Ford

J. D.

Chapman

Mack

J. M.

Pearson

(2006). Pathways from traumatic child victimization to delinquency: Implications for juvenile and permanency court proceedings and decisions. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 57, 13–26.

24.

Godinet

M. T.

Berg

(2014). Early childhood maltreatment and trajectories of behavioral problems: Exploring gender and racial differences. Child Abuse and Neglect, 38, 544–556.

25.

Goodkind

Shook

J. J.

Kim

K. H.

Pohlig

R. T.

Herring

D. J.

(2013). From child welfare to juvenile justice: Race, gender, and system experiences. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 11, 249–272.

26.

Hirschi

(1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.

27.

Hussey

J. M.

Marshall

J. M.

English

D. J.

Knight

E. D.

Lau

A. S.

Dubowitz

Kotch

J. B.

(2005). Defining maltreatment according to substantiation: Distinction without a difference? Child Abuse and Neglect, 29, 479–492.

28.

Institute of Medicine & National Research Council. (2014). New directions in child abuse and neglect research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

29.

Jaffee

S. R.

(2017). Child maltreatment and risk for psychopathology in childhood and adulthood. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 13, 525–551.

30.

Jaffee

S. R.

Maikovich-Fong

A. K.

(2011). Effects of chronic maltreatment and maltreatment timing on children’s behavior and cognitive abilities. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 184–194.

31.

Jonson-Reid

(2002). Exploring the relationship between child welfare intervention and juvenile corrections involvement. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 559–576.

32.

Kerig

P. K.

Bennett

D. C.

Thompson

Becker

S. P

. (2012). “Nothing really matters”: Emotional numbing as a link between trauma exposure and callousness in delinquent youth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25, 272–279.

33.

Klitka

J. B.

Herrenkohl

T. I.

(2013). A review of developmental research on resilience in maltreated children. Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 14, 222–234.

34.

Kohl

P. L.

Jonson-Reid

Drake

(2009). Time to leave substantiation behind: Findings from a national probability study. Child Maltreatment, 14, 17–26.

35.

Lansford

J. E.

Dodge

K. A.

Pettit

G. S.

Bates

J. E.

Crozier

Kaplow

(2002). A 12-year prospective study of the long-term effects of early child physical maltreatment on psychological, behavioral, and academic problems in adolescence. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 156, 824–830.

36.

Lansford

J. E.

Miller-Johnson

Berlin

L. J.

Dodge

K. A.

Bates

J. E.

Pettit

G. S.

(2007). Early physical abuse and later violent delinquency: A prospective longitudinal study. Child Maltreatment, 12, 233–245.

37.

Lau

Litrownik

A. J.

Newton

R. R.

Black

M. M.

Everson

M. D.

(2006). Factors affecting the link between physical discipline and child externalizing problems in Black and white families. Journal of Community Psychology, 34, 89–103.

38.

Lee

Cronley

White

H. R.

Mun

E.-Y.

Stouthamer-Loeber

Loeber

(2012). Racial differences in the consequences of childhood maltreatment for adolescent and young adult depression, heavy drinking, and violence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50, 443–449.

39.

Lee

Watson

M. W.

(2017). Corporal punishment and child aggression: Ethnic-level family cohesion as a moderator. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260517704227

40.

Godinet

M. T.

(2014). The impact of repeated maltreatment on behavioral trajectories from early childhood to early adolescence. Children and Youth Services Review, 36, 22–29.

41.

Loeber

Burke

J. D.

Pardini

D. A.

(2009). Development and etiology of disruptive and delinquent behavior. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 5, 291–310.

42.

Logan-Greene

Jones

A. S.

(2015). Chronic neglect and aggression/delinquency: A longitudinal examination. Child Abuse and Neglect, 45, 9–20.

43.

Malvaso

C. G.

Day

Casey

Corrado

(2017). Young offenders, maltreatment, and trauma: A pilot study. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 24, 458–469.

44.

Malvaso

C. G.

Delfabbro

P. H.

Day

(2016). Risk factors that influence the maltreatment-offending association: A systematic review of prospective and longitudinal studies. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 31, 1–15.

45.

Malvaso

C. G.

Delfabbro

P. H.

Day

(2017). Child maltreatment and criminal convictions in youth: The role of gender, ethnicity and placement experiences in an Australian population. Children and Youth Services Review, 73, 57–65.

46.

Maxfield

M. G.

Widom

C. S.

(1996). The cycle of violence: Revisited six years later. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 150, 390–395.

47.

Moody

Cannings-John

Hood

Kemp

Robling

(2018). Establishing the international prevalence of self-reported child maltreatment: A systematic review by maltreatment type and gender. BMC Public Health, 18, 1164.

48.

Norman

R. E.

Byambaa

Butchart

Scott

Vos

(2012). The long-term health consequences of child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Medicine, 9, e1001349.

49.

Patterson

G. R.

(1982). A social learning approach, Vol. 3. Coercive family practices. Eugene, OR: Castalia.

50.

Peterson

Florence

Klevens

(2018). The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States, 2015. Child Abuse and Neglect, 86, 178–183.

51.

Pew Research Center. (2013). King’s dream remains an elusive goal. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/08/22/chapter-3-demographic-economic-data-by-race/

52.

Radloff

L. S.

(1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.

53.

Resnick

M. D.

Bearman

P. S.

Blum

R. W.

Bauman

K. E.

Harris

K. M.

Jones

… Udry

J. R.

(1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the national longitudinal study on adolescent health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 823–832.

54.

Rios

V. M.

(2011). Punished: Policing the lives of black and latino boys. New York: New York University Press.

55.

Runyan

D. K.

Curtis

P. A.

Hunter

W. M.

Black

M. M.

Kotch

J. B.

Bangdiwala

S. I.

… John

(1998). LONGSCAN: A consortium for longitudinal studies of maltreatment and the life course of children. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3, 275–285.

56.

Sandler

Ingram

Wolchik

S. A.

Tein

J.-Y.

Winslow

(2015). Long-term effects of parenting-focused preventive interventions to promote resilience of children and adolescents. Child Development Perspectives, 9, 164–171.

57.

Sedlak

A. J.

Mettenburg

Basena

Petta

McPherson

Green

. (2010). Fourth national incidence study of child abuse and neglect (NIS–4): Report to congress. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/natl_incid/index.html

58.

Smith

C. A.

Ireland

T. O.

Thornberry

T. P.

Elwyn

(2008). Childhood maltreatment and antisocial behavior: Comparison of self-reported and substantiated maltreatment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78, 173–186.

59.

StataCorp. (2017). Stata statistical software: Release 15. College Station, TX: Author.

60.

Stein

Jaycox

L. H.

Kataoka

S. H.

Wong

Elliott

M. N.

Fink

(2003). A mental health intervention for school children exposed to violence: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association, 290, 603–611.

61.

Topitzes

Mersky

J. P.

Reynolds

A. J.

(2012). From child maltreatment to violent offending: An examination of mixed-gender and gender-specific models. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 2322–2347.

62.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2018). Child maltreatment 2016. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

63.

U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Evidence-based practices for children exposed to violence: A selection from federal databases. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

64.

Ungar

(2013). Resilience, trauma, context, and culture. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 14, 255–266.

65.

Widom

C. S.

(1989). The cycle of violence. Science, 244, 160–166.

66.

Widom

C. S.

(2014). Longterm consequences of child maltreatment. In Korbin

J. E.

Krugman

R. D.

(Eds.), Handbook of child maltreatment (pp. 225–247). New York, NY: Springer.

67.

Widom

C. S

. (2017). Long-term impact of childhood abuse and neglect on crime and violence. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 24, 186–202.