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Child Maltreatment and Risk for Psychopathology in Childhood and Adulthood

Child Maltreatment and Risk for Psychopathology in Childhood and Adulthood Although rates of child maltreatment are declining, more than 600,000 children in the United States are substantiated victims of abuse or neglect. The focus of this review is on the relationship between maltreatment and mental health problems in childhood and adulthood. Children and adults who are exposed to abuse or neglect in childhood are at risk for a range of poor mental health outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychotic symptoms, and personality disorders. I review three potential mechanisms by which maltreatment may increase risk for various forms of psychopathology, ( a ) hypervigilance to threat, ( b ) deficits in emotion recognition and understanding, and ( c ) low responsivity to reward. I also review genetic and psychosocial factors that moderate the relationship between maltreatment and risk for psychopathology. Finally, I discuss methodological limitations of the literature on maltreatment, with an emphasis on the challenges associated with establishing a causal role for maltreatment (and moderators or mediators of maltreatment) in the development of mental health problems and the reliance of many studies on retrospective self-reports. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Clinical Psychology Annual Reviews

Child Maltreatment and Risk for Psychopathology in Childhood and Adulthood

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Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
ISSN
1548-5943
eISSN
1548-5951
DOI
10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045005
pmid
28375720
Publisher site
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Abstract

Although rates of child maltreatment are declining, more than 600,000 children in the United States are substantiated victims of abuse or neglect. The focus of this review is on the relationship between maltreatment and mental health problems in childhood and adulthood. Children and adults who are exposed to abuse or neglect in childhood are at risk for a range of poor mental health outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, posttraumatic stress disorder, psychotic symptoms, and personality disorders. I review three potential mechanisms by which maltreatment may increase risk for various forms of psychopathology, ( a ) hypervigilance to threat, ( b ) deficits in emotion recognition and understanding, and ( c ) low responsivity to reward. I also review genetic and psychosocial factors that moderate the relationship between maltreatment and risk for psychopathology. Finally, I discuss methodological limitations of the literature on maltreatment, with an emphasis on the challenges associated with establishing a causal role for maltreatment (and moderators or mediators of maltreatment) in the development of mental health problems and the reliance of many studies on retrospective self-reports.

Journal

Annual Review of Clinical Psychology – Annual Reviews

Published: May 8, 2017

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