3-104 - Understanding dimensions of child maltreatment: How timing, subtype, severity and chronicity impact developmental outcomes

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The extant literature on child maltreatment has emphasized that a comprehensive assessment of multiple dimensions of maltreatment is critical for elucidating the impact of particular characteristics of maltreatment on children's adjustment. Growing evidence has documented the complexities inherent in the sequelae of child abuse and neglect. A number of interrelated processes interact to influence the developmental trajectory of adaptation and maladaptation for maltreated children. A developmental psychopathology framework underscores the transactional influences of multiple risk and protective factors at different levels of children's environments that impact their development (Cicchetti & Valentino, 2006).

These three papers utilize multiple levels of analysis to illustrate different processes through which maltreatment impacts children's development. The first paper focuses on the interaction between chronicity of maltreatment and gender to predict cortisol concentration in hair, with the latter also mediating social problems in maltreated boys. This effect was robust, accounting for dimensions of maltreatment such as age of onset and recency, but patterns were distinct by gender. The second paper utilized a prospective longitudinal design to examine the severity of early emotional maltreatment on subsequent symptoms of traumatic stress, considering the children's subsequent exposure to violence. The final paper examined gene by environment interactions and found that developmental timing and subtypes of maltreatment were differentially related to genetic vulnerability to anxiety and depressive symptoms. The results of these studies emphasize the importance of utilizing a developmental approach and assessing multiple dimensions of maltreatment to understand patterns of adaptation and maladaptation among children exposed to adversity.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Jody Todd Manly, University of Rochester

Discussant

• Diana J. English, School of Social Work, University of Washington

Individual Presentations

• Gender-specific Patterns of Cortisol in Children’s Hair Predicted by Chronicity of Maltreatment - Presenting Author: Lars Otto White, Universität Leipzig; Tobias Stalder, Institute of Biological Psychology, Technische Universitaet, Dresden, Germany; Andrea Michel, Universität Leipzig; Anna Andreas, Universität Leipzig; Jan Keil, Universität Leipzig; Leonhard Resch, 10Charge; Annette M Klein, University of Leipzig; Jody Todd Manly, University of Rochester; Marcus Ising, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany; Clemens Kirschbaum, Institute of Biological Psychology, Technische Universitaet, Dresden, Germany; Kai von Klitzing, University of Leipzig; Susan Sierau, Universität Leipzig

• Severity of early emotional maltreatment and exposure to violence in predicting children’s posttraumatic stress symptoms - Presenting Author: Jody Todd Manly, University of Rochester; Michael D Lynch

• Genetic moderation of child maltreatment effects on depressive symptoms by 5-HTTLPR and NET genes in African-American children - Presenting Author: Fred A Rogosch, University of Rochester; Dante Cicchetti, University of Minnesota