NCJ Number
205229
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 25 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2001 Pages: 1219-1240
Editor(s)
Richard D. Krugman
Date Published
September 2001
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined the structure of child maltreatment and its influence on later parenting practices.
Abstract
Identified as a major social problem, researchers have focused on the maltreatment of children by their parents. Research evidence has linked parents’ maltreatment of children to their own maltreatment experiences as children. However, this intergenerational transmission hypothesis has received a significant amount of criticism. The existing research is plagued with at least three fundamental weaknesses resulting in this controversy and criticism: (1) identifying subjects by looking at case status only; (2) a lack of continuous measurement of maltreatment variables; and (3) insufficient operational definitions that fail to account for the unique and combined effects of both abuse and neglect. In order to explore the intergenerational expression of child maltreatment, this study examined the influence of maltreatment experiences on later parenting practices by controlling for the identified weaknesses. It specifically examined which childhood experiences predicted later parenting behaviors in an ethnically diverse, longitudinal community sample from the Los Angeles, CA, area. It examined the structure of both fathers’ and mothers’ experiences independently. Participants in the study (n=383) were parents from the UCLA Longitudinal Study of Growth and Development. The study supports the intergenerational cycle of child maltreatment. For both mothers and fathers, the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment was supported. In both cases, the latent factor of child maltreatment led to a latent construct of poor parenting, indicating a general transmission process. It was clear that greater exposure to maltreatment as a child led to greater parenting dysfunction. References