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March 2011Vol. 12, No. 2The Relationship Between Child Maltreatment and Delinquency

A recently published article looks at the relationship between child maltreatment and violent delinquency. In "Disentangling the Relationship Between Child Maltreatment and Violent Delinquency: Using a Nationally Representative Sample," researchers Ilhong Yun, Jeremy D. Ball, and Hyeyoung Lim used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents to examine the relationship between child maltreatment and violent delinquency. The cases of 3,472 adolescents were analyzed for any relationship among child maltreatment and violent delinquency and for potential moderating effects of gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and religiosity.

Citing the limitations of prior research findings that relied largely on localized data samples, the authors contend that using a national data set provides a more reliable analysis of the relationship between different types of abuse and neglect and the incidence of violent delinquency. The authors conclude that physical abuse was not associated with future violent delinquency, whereas sexual abuse and neglect predicted violent delinquency significantly. Gender, SES, and religiosity had no moderating effects on these relationships.

The article was published in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. An abstract and ordering information for the article can be found on the publisher's website:

http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/26/1/88