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Developmental pathways from maltreatment to risk behavior: Sexual behavior as a catalyst

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Sonya Negriff
Sonya Negriff*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Sonya Negriff, School of Social Work, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, MRF, MC 0411, Los Angeles, CA 90089; E-mail: negriff@usc.edu.
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Abstract

Although delinquency, substance use, and sexual activity are established to be highly intercorrelated, the extant research provides minimal evidence in support of one particular sequence of risk behavior or on the cascade effects from maltreatment. The present study tested a longitudinal model incorporating maltreatment, deviant peers, sexual behavior, delinquency, and substance use to elucidate the sequential pathway(s) from maltreatment to each specific risk behavior throughout adolescence. Data came from a longitudinal study on the effects of maltreatment on adolescent development (N = 454) with four study assessments from early (Time 1 M age = 10.98) to late adolescence (Time 4 M age = 18.22). Results from the cross-lagged model showed a sequence from maltreatment to sexual behavior (Time 1), to delinquency (Time 2), to sexual behavior (Time 3), to substance use and delinquency (Time 4). These findings support sexual behavior as the initial risk behavior that is the catalyst for engagement in more advanced risk behaviors across adolescence.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , May 2018 , pp. 683 - 693
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

This study was funded by National Institutes of Health Grants R01HD39129, R01DAa024569 (to P.K. Trickett, Principal Investigator), and K01HD069457 (to S.N., Principal Investigator). I would like to recognize Penny Trickett's contribution to the study of maltreatment and her influence on my training as a child maltreatment researcher. This paper would not have been possible without her. She will be greatly missed.

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