Work

Contamination in the Prospective Study of Child Maltreatment and Female Adolescent Health

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of contamination, or the presence of child maltreatment in a comparison condition, when estimating the broad, longitudinal effects of child maltreatment on female health at the transition to adulthood. METHODS: The Female Adolescent Development Study (N = 514; age range: 14-19 years) used a prospective cohort design to examine the effects of substantiated child maltreatment on teenage births, obesity, major depression, and past-month cigarette use. Contamination was controlled via a multimethod strategy that used both adolescent self-report and Child Protective Services records to remove cases of child maltreatment from the comparison condition. RESULTS: Substantiated child maltreatment significantly predicted each outcome, relative risks = 1.47-2.95, 95% confidence intervals: 1.03-7.06, with increases in corresponding effect size magnitudes, only when contamination was controlled using the multimethod strategy. CONCLUSIONS: Contamination truncates risk estimates of child maltreatment and controlling it can strengthen overall conclusions about the effects of child maltreatment on female health.

Source: Journal of Pediatric Psychology

DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsv017

Authors: Chad E. Shenk, Jennie G. Noll, James L. Peugh, Amanda M. Griffin, Heather E. Bensman

Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Child Abuse and Trauma

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development