Immediate impact of child maltreatment on mental, developmental, and physical health trajectories

• Published in: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Vol. 63; no. 9; pp. 1027 - 1045
• Main Authors: Winter, Sibylle M., Dittrich, Katja, Dörr, Peggy, Overfeld, Judith, Moebus, Imke, Murray, Elena, Karaboycheva, Gergana, Zimmermann, Christian, Knop, Andrea, Voelkle, Manuel, Entringer, Sonja, Buss, Claudia, Haynes, John‐Dylan, Binder, Elisabeth B., Heim, Christine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2022
• Subjects: Abused children; Behavior problems; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child Abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse - psychology; Child development; Emotional abuse; Emotions; follow‐up studies; Health status; Humans; Internalization; Longitudinal Studies; maltreatment; Medicine; Mental Disorders; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental health; Motor development; Physical Abuse; Physical Health; Physical symptoms; Psychiatric symptoms; Psychiatry; psychopathology; Risk factors; Social development; somatic problems; Symptoms; maltreatment; follow-up studies; Child development; somatic problems; psychopathology
• ISSN: 0021-9630; 1469-7610
• DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13550

Objective The immediate impact of child maltreatment on health and developmental trajectories over time is unknown. Longitudinal studies starting in the direct aftermath of exposure with repeated follow‐up are needed. Method We assessed health and developmental outcomes in 6‐month intervals over 2 years in 173 children, aged 3–5 years at study entry, including 86 children with exposure to emotional and physical abuse or neglect within 6 months and 87 nonmaltreated children. Assessments included clinician‐administered, self‐ and parent‐report measures of psychiatric and behavioral symptoms, development, and physical health. Linear mixed models and latent growth curve analyses were used to contrast trajectories between groups and to investigate the impact of maltreatment features on trajectories. Results Maltreated children exhibited greater numbers of psychiatric diagnoses (b = 1.998, p < .001), externalizing (b = 13.29, p < .001) and internalizing (b = 11.70, p < .001) symptoms, impairments in cognitive (b = −11.586, p < .001), verbal (b = −10.687, p < .001), and motor development (b = −7.904, p = .006), and greater numbers of medical symptoms (b = 1.021, p < .001) compared to nonmaltreated children across all time‐points. Lifetime maltreatment severity and/or age at earliest maltreatment exposure predicted adverse outcomes over time. Conclusion The profound, immediate, and stable impact of maltreatment on health and developmental trajectories supports a biological embedding model and provides foundation to scrutinize the precise underlying mechanisms. Such knowledge will enable the development of early risk markers and mechanism‐driven interventions that mitigate adverse trajectories in maltreated children.