An Ecological Developmental Perspective on the Consequences of Child Maltreatment

Dataset Number: 96
Investigator(s): Dante Cicchetti, Michael Lynch, and Jody Todd Manly
Abstract: Cicchetti, Lynch, and Manly used the ecological-transactional model of child development to inform a three-part investigation of the links among child maltreatment, environmental conditions, and developmental outcomes. In the first part of the research, the investigators examined the links between community violence, domestic violence, and poverty and the multiple dimensions of child maltreatment assessed by the investigators’ classification system. In the second part of the research, the investigators examined the links between child maltreatment and various developmental outcomes. Finally, in accordance with the ecological- transactional perspective, the investigators examined how child maltreatment interacts with other environmental conditions and child factors to shape the path of children’s development and their subsequent adaptation.
   Three hundred children between 7 and 12 years of age were recruited to participate in this study. One hundred sixty-eight children (56% of the sample) had been identified as legally maltreated by the local department of social services and had their caregivers referred to study investigators by social service caseworkers. A demographically similar comparison group of 132 non-maltreated children was recruited from the roll of families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
   Both groups of children participated in week-long, 30 hour day camp sessions during the summers of 1995 and 1996. Measures of the children’s interpersonal functioning, self-functioning, cognitive functioning, and symptoms of distress were assessed through self-, peer-, and counselor ratings. Concurrently, primary caregivers were interviewed about community and home violence. One-year longitudinal data were obtained for 95% of the child participants. Follow-up measures were identical to those used during the first wave except that parent-report ratings were not obtained.
   This dataset represents year one and two of a four year data collection effort. Dataset #110 contains the third and fourth year follow-up data.
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