Studies now acknowledge a robust association between childhood maltreatment and psychosis development in adulthood. Research shows that maltreatment not only influences the child's psychological wellbeing but also inhibits domains of social development. These social impairments have been found to predate the onset of psychosis and may crucially represent an intervening factor which triggers the...

There is no single known cause of child maltreatment. Nor is there any single description that captures all families in which children are victims of abuse and neglect. Child maltreatment occurs across socio-economic, religious, cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. While no specific causes definitively have been identified that lead a parent or other caregiver to abuse or neglect a child, resea...

This study attempts to assess childhood maltreatment in prison through a hierarchical approach. The hierarchical approach principally aims to disentangle the independent effects of childhood maltreatment upon psychiatric morbidity/personality traits, if any, from the burden that the adverse family conditions have already imposed to the mental health of the maltreated individual-prisoner. To thi...

A number of studies have demonstrated an increased rate of histories of childhood maltreatment among adults with serious mental illness. The present investigation documented the presence of childhood maltreatment in a sample of 40 psychiatric inpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The type (neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse), duration, and severity of childhood maltreatment was e...

The present study examined the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood maltreatment, and the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala between the ages of 25 and 36 years. Previous work has linked both low SES and maltreatment with reduced hippocampal volume in childhood, an effect attributed to childhood stress. In 46 adult subjects, only childhood maltreatment, and ...

This study examined relationships among maltreatment experience, therapeutic alliance formation, and treatment outcome in a sample of 38 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents. It was hypothesized that the experience of maltreatment would interfere with alliance formation, thereby compromising the effectiveness of therapy. Results indicated that maltreatment, multiplicity of maltreatment, and...

We examined the relation between child maltreatment and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Participants were 86 adolescents who completed measures of child maltreatment, self-criticism, perceived criticism, depression, and NSSI. Analyses revealed significant, small-to-medium associations between specific forms of child maltreatment (physical neglect, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse) and the pre...

Does Child Abuse Cause Crime? Child maltreatment, which includes both child abuse and child neglect, is a major social problem. This paper focuses on measuring the effects of child maltreatment on crime using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focus on crime because it is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes of maltreatment, and because...

PURPOSE The present paper summarizes findings of the special issue papers on the intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment and through meta-analysis explores the potential moderating effects of safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNRs). METHODS Studies were selected for inclusion in this meta-analysis if they (1) were published in peer-reviewed journals; (2) tested for intergener...

Within maltreatment research, type, frequency, and severity of abuse are often confounded and not always specifically documented. The result is samples that are often heterogeneous in regard to maltreatment experience, and the role of the different components of maltreatment in predicting outcome is unclear. The purpose of the present study was to identify and test the potential unique role of ...