Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2021

01-12-2021 | Child Abuse | Research article

Associations between developmental timing of child abuse and conduct problem trajectories in a UK birth cohort

Authors: Andreas Bauer, Gemma Hammerton, Abigail Fraser, Graeme Fairchild, Sarah L. Halligan

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2021

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Although there is strong evidence for a relationship between child abuse and neglect and conduct problems, associations between child abuse experienced at different developmental stages and developmental trajectories of conduct problems have not been examined. We sought to investigate effects of timing of child abuse on conduct problem trajectories in a large UK birth cohort study.

Methods

We applied latent class growth analysis to identify conduct problem trajectories in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, using parent-rated conduct problems from ages 4–17 years (N = 10,648). Childhood-only and adolescence-only abuse, in addition to abuse in both developmental periods (‘persistent’ abuse), were assessed by retrospective self-report at age 22 years (N = 3172).

Results

We identified four developmental trajectories: early-onset persistent (4.8%), adolescence-onset (4.5%), childhood-limited (15.4%), and low (75.3%) conduct problems. Childhood-only abuse and ‘persistent’ abuse were associated with increased odds of being on the early-onset persistent and adolescence-onset conduct problem trajectories compared to the low conduct problems trajectory. Adolescence-only abuse was not predictive of trajectory membership. There were no associations between abuse and childhood-limited trajectory membership.

Conclusions

Early-onset persistent and adolescence-onset conduct problems showed similar patterns of association with abuse exposure, challenging developmental theories that propose qualitative, as opposed to quantitative, differences in environmental risk factors between these trajectories. The results also highlight that childhood-only and ‘persistent’ abuse were more strongly linked to elevated conduct problem trajectories than adolescence-only abuse, and that ‘persistent’ abuse is particularly detrimental.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5th ed. Washington: Author; 2013.CrossRef
2.
Erskine HE, Ferrari AJ, Polanczyk GV, Moffitt TE, Murray CJ, Vos T, et al. The global burden of conduct disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in 2010. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2014;55(4):328–36.PubMedCrossRef
3.
Roberts R, McCrory E, Joffe H, De Lima N, Viding E. Living with conduct problem youth: family functioning and parental perceptions of their child. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2018;27(5):595–604.PubMedCrossRef
4.
Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Harrington H, Milne BJ. Males on the life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways: follow-up at age 26 years. Dev Psychopathol. 2002;14(1):179–207.PubMedCrossRef
5.
Rivenbark JG, Odgers CL, Caspi A, Harrington H, Hogan S, Houts RM, et al. The high societal costs of childhood conduct problems: evidence from administrative records up to age 38 in a longitudinal birth cohort. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2018;59(6):703–10.PubMedCrossRef
6.
Scott S, Knapp M, Henderson J, Maughan B. Financial cost of social exclusion: follow up study of antisocial children into adulthood. BMJ. 2001;323:7306.
7.
Colman I, Murray J, Abbott RA, Maughan B, Kuh D, Croudace TJ, et al. Outcomes of conduct problems in adolescence: 40 year follow-up of national cohort. BMJ. 2009;338:a2981.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
8.
Fairchild G, Hawes DJ, Frick PJ, Copeland WE, Odgers CL, Franke B, et al. Conduct disorder. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2019;5:44.CrossRef
9.
Moffitt TE. Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. Psychol Rev. 1993;100(4):674–701.PubMedCrossRef
10.
11.
Fairchild G, van Goozen SH, Calder AJ, Goodyer IM. Research review: evaluating and reformulating the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2013;54(9):924–40.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
12.
Jolliffe D, Farrington DP, Piquero AR, Loeber R, Hill KG. Systematic review of early risk factors for life-course-persistent, adolescence-limited, and late-onset offenders in prospective longitudinal studies. Aggress Violent Behav. 2017;33:15–23.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
13.
Jiang Y, Guo X, Zhang J, Gao J, Wang X, Situ W, et al. Abnormalities of cortical structures in adolescent-onset conduct disorder. Psychol Med. 2015;45(16):3467–79.PubMedCrossRef
14.
Roisman GI, Monahan KC, Campbell SB, Steinberg L, Cauffman E. National Institute of child health, et al. is adolescence-onset antisocial behavior developmentally normative? Dev Psychopathol. 2010;22(2):295–311.PubMedCrossRef
15.
Braga T, Gonçalves LC, Basto-Pereira M, Maia Â. Unraveling the link between maltreatment and juvenile antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis of prospective longitudinal studies. Aggress Violent Behav. 2017;33:37–50.CrossRef
16.
Wilson HW, Stover CS, Berkowitz SJ. Research review: the relationship between childhood violence exposure and juvenile antisocial behavior: a meta-analytic review. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2009;50(7):769–79.PubMedCrossRef
17.
Aguilar B, Sroufe LA, Egeland B, Carson E. Distinguishing the early-onset/persistent and adolescence-onset antisocial behavior types: from birth to 16 years. Dev Psychopathol. 2000;12(2):109–32.PubMedCrossRef
18.
Moore AA, Mezuk B. Exploring Moffitt's developmental taxonomy of conduct disorder: an epidemiological study of childhood predictors and adult outcomes of ‘life course persistent’ and ‘adolescence limited’ conduct disorder. Compr Psychiatry. 2014;55(8):e54.CrossRef
19.
Raine A, Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Loeber R, Stouthamer-Loeber M, Lynam D. Neurocognitive impairments in boys on the life-course persistent antisocial path. J Abnorm Psychol. 2005;114(1):38–49.PubMedCrossRef
20.
Odgers CL, Moffitt TE, Broadbent JM, Dickson N, Hancox RJ, Harrington H, et al. Female and male antisocial trajectories: from childhood origins to adult outcomes. Dev Psychopathol. 2008;20(2):673–716.PubMedCrossRef
21.
Radford L, Corral S, Bradley C, Fisher H, Bassett C, Howat N, et al. Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC; 2011.
22.
McLaughlin KA, Fox NA, Zeanah CH, Nelson CA. Adverse rearing environments and neural development in children: the development of frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry. Biol Psychiatry. 2011;70(11):1008–15.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
23.
Blakemore SJ, Mills KL. Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annu Rev Psychol. 2014;65:187–207.PubMedCrossRef
24.
Andersen SL, Teicher MH. Stress, sensitive periods and maturational events in adolescent depression. Trends Neurosci. 2008;31(4):183–91.PubMedCrossRef
25.
Evans GW, Li D, Whipple SS. Cumulative risk and child development. Psychol Bull. 2013;139(6):1342–96.PubMedCrossRef
26.
Ireland TO, Smith CA, Thornberry TP. Developmental issues in the impact of child maltreatment on later delinquency and drug use. Criminology. 2002;40(2):359–400.CrossRef
27.
Thornberry TP, Henry KL, Ireland TO, Smith CA. The causal impact of childhood-limited maltreatment and adolescent maltreatment on early adult adjustment. J Adolesc Health. 2010;46(4):359–65.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
28.
Thornberry TP, Ireland TO, Smith CA. The importance of timing: the varying impact of childhood and adolescent maltreatment on multiple problem outcomes. Dev Psychopathol. 2001;13(4):957–79.PubMedCrossRef
29.
Mersky JP, Topitzes J, Reynolds AJ. Unsafe at any age: linking childhood and adolescent maltreatment to delinquency and crime. J Res Crime Delinq. 2012;49(2):295–318.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
30.
Barker ED, Maughan B. Differentiating early-onset persistent versus childhood-limited conduct problem youth. Am J Psychiatry. 2009;166(8):900–8.PubMedCrossRef
31.
Harris PA, Taylor R, Thielke R, Payne J, Gonzalez N, Conde JG. Research electronic data capture (REDCap)--a metadata-driven methodology and workflow process for providing translational research informatics support. J Biomed Inform. 2009;42(2):377–81.PubMedCrossRef
32.
Boyd A, Golding J, Macleod J, Lawlor DA, Fraser A, Henderson J, et al. Cohort profile: the 'children of the 90s'--the index offspring of the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children. Int J Epidemiol. 2013;42(1):111–27.PubMedCrossRef
33.
Fraser A, Macdonald-Wallis C, Tilling K, Boyd A, Golding J, Davey Smith G, et al. Cohort profile: the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children: ALSPAC mothers cohort. Int J Epidemiol. 2013;42(1):97–110.PubMedCrossRef
34.
Goodman R. Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2001;40(11):1337–45.CrossRefPubMed
35.
Goodman R. The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1997;38(5):581–6.CrossRefPubMed
36.
37.
Stone LL, Otten R, Engels RC, Vermulst AA, Janssens JM. Psychometric properties of the parent and teacher versions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire for 4- to 12-year-olds: a review. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2010;13(3):254–74.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
38.
Smith DJ, McVie S. Theory and method in the Edinburgh study of youth transitions and crime. Br J Criminol. 2003;43(1):169–95.CrossRef
39.
40.
Roberts AL, Galea S, Austin SB, Cerda M, Wright RJ, Rich-Edwards JW, et al. Posttraumatic stress disorder across two generations: concordance and mechanisms in a population-based sample. Biol Psychiatry. 2012;72(6):505–11.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
41.
Roberts AL, Rosario M, Corliss HL, Koenen KC, Austin SB. Elevated risk of posttraumatic stress in sexual minority youths: mediation by childhood abuse and gender nonconformity. Am J Public Health. 2012;102(8):1587–93.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
42.
Vermunt JK. Latent class modeling with covariates: two improved three-step approaches. Polit Anal. 2010;18(4):450–69.CrossRef
43.
Wickrama KA, Lee TK, O'Neal CW, Lorenz FO. Higher-order growth curves and mixture modeling with Mplus: a practical guide. New York: Routledge; 2016.CrossRef
44.
Enders CK, Bandalos DL. The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Struct Equ Modeling. 2001;8(3):430–57.CrossRef
45.
Seaman SR, White IR. Review of inverse probability weighting for dealing with missing data. Stat Methods Med Res. 2013;22(3):278–95.PubMedCrossRef
46.
Bevilacqua L, Hale D, Barker ED, Viner R. Conduct problems trajectories and psychosocial outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2018;27(10):1239–60.PubMedCrossRef
47.
48.
49.
Crick NR, Dodge KA. A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychol Bull. 1994;115(1):74–101.CrossRef
50.
Orobio de Castro B, Veerman JW, Koops W, Bosch JD, Monshouwer HJ. Hostile attribution of intent and aggressive behavior: a meta-analysis. Child Dev. 2002;73(3):916–34.PubMedCrossRef
51.
Dodge KA, Pettit GS, Bates JE, Valente E. Social information-processing patterns partially mediate the effect of early physical abuse on later conduct problems. J Abnorm Psychol. 1995;104(4):632–43.PubMedCrossRef
52.
Weiss B, Dodge KA, Bates JE, Pettit GS. Some consequences of early harsh discipline: child aggression and a maladaptive social information processing style. Child Dev. 1992;63(6):1321–35.PubMedCrossRef
53.
Pinquart M. Associations of parenting dimensions and styles with externalizing problems of children and adolescents: an updated meta-analysis. Dev Psychol. 2017;53(5):873–932.PubMedCrossRef
54.
Patterson GR. Coercive family interactions. Eugene: Castalia Press; 1982.
55.
Baldwin JR, Reuben A, Newbury JB, Danese A. Agreement between prospective and retrospective measures of childhood maltreatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76(6):584–93.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
56.
Hardt J, Rutter M. Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: review of the evidence. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2004;45(2):260–73.PubMedCrossRef
57.
MacMillan HL, Jamieson E, Walsh CA. Reported contact with child protection services among those reporting child physical and sexual abuse: results from a community survey. Child Abuse Negl. 2003;27(12):1397–408.PubMedCrossRef
58.
Bernstein DP, Fink L, Handelsman L, Foote J, Lovejoy M, Wenzel K, et al. Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect. Am J Psychiatry. 1994;151(8):1132–6.PubMedCrossRef
59.
Barker ED, Oliver BR, Maughan B. Co-occurring problems of early onset persistent, childhood limited, and adolescent onset conduct problem youth. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2010;51(11):1217–26.PubMedCrossRef
60.
De Los RA, Augenstein TM, Wang M, Thomas SA, Drabick DAG, Burgers DE, et al. The validity of the multi-informant approach to assessing child and adolescent mental health. Psychol Bull. 2015;141(4):858–900.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Associations between developmental timing of child abuse and conduct problem trajectories in a UK birth cohort
Authors
Andreas Bauer
Gemma Hammerton
Abigail Fraser
Graeme Fairchild
Sarah L. Halligan
Publication date
01-12-2021
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03083-8

Other articles of this Issue 1/2021

BMC Psychiatry 1/2021 Go to the issue

Research article

Test–retest reliability and convergent validity of the test of nonverbal intelligence-fourth edition in patients with schizophrenia

Research article

Socioeconomic inequality in psychological distress among older adults in India: a decomposition analysis

Research article

Impact of urban birth and upbringing on expression of psychosis in a Chinese undergraduate population

Research article

Mental disorder and PTSD in Syria during wartime: a nationwide crisis

Research

A qualitative study of stakeholder views on the use of a digital app for supported self-management in early intervention services for psychosis

Research

Temporal relationships between happiness and psychiatric disorders and their symptom severity in a large cohort study: the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA)