Child Maltreatment and Antisocial Outcomes: Gender Differences in a Nationally Representative Sample

• In Event: Research on Traffic Crash, Robbery against Businesses, and the Effects of Child Maltreatment and Persuasive Messages on Deviant Behavior

Abstract

Prior research and theorizing has suggested that the relationship between child maltreatment and antisocial outcomes is gendered. However, research to date that has sought to test this hypothesis has been incomplete due to issues such as focusing on a single type of maltreatment or antisocial outcome within a given study, and an over-reliance on non-probability samples. The current study seeks to expand on this literature by examining the effects of several different types of child maltreatment on six different antisocial behaviors in a nationally representative sample of American adolescents. Results suggest that child maltreatment shapes the antisocial behaviors under study differently for females and males. Implications of the findings for theory and policy are discussed.

Author

• Stephen Watts, University of Memphis