The Long-Term Consequences of Maltreatment in the Early Years: A Developmental Pathway Model to Antisocial Behavior

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The developmental pathways linking maltreatment in early childhood and antisocial behavior in adolescence were examined using data from a longitudinal study of high-risk children and their families. Two developmental process variables, emotional/self-regulation (dysregulation) and establishing a close emotional relationship between the child and primary caregiver (alienation), were included in the model in an effort to better understand the pathway from maltreatment to antisocial behavior. The results indicated that alienation and, to a much lesser extent, dysregulation helped explain the relation between early maltreatment and later antisocial behavior. The model including the developmental process variables was a better representation of the data than the model considering only the direct effect between early maltreatment and later antisocial behavior. Physical abuse in early childhood, not emotional neglect, led to alienation in preschool, which then predicted early onset externalizing problems in the elementary school years, ultimately resulting in antisocial behavior in adolescence. One of the implications of these findings for preventing adolescent antisocial behavior is to intervene at an early age with a relationship-based program.