UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PsychiatryDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2003-12-01Keywords
AdolescentAggression
Child
Child Abuse
Child Abuse, Sexual
Child Behavior Disorders
Female
Humans
Intelligence
Intelligence Tests
Male
Questionnaires
Referral and Consultation
Residential Treatment
Retrospective Studies
Severity of Illness Index
Social Behavior Disorders
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
Mental and Social Health
Psychiatric and Mental Health
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Psychology
Psychology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Our objective was to investigate the relationship between a lifetime history of traumatic stress, defined as physical and/or sexual abuse and aggression and psychosocial functioning in a sample of clinically referred and nonclinically referred children and adolescents. This is a retrospective case comparison study. Three groups of children were identified, assessed, matched for age, and partially matched for gender. Children clinically referred to residential treatment with a history of abuse (N = 29) were compared with children clinically referred to residential treatment without a history of abuse (N = 29), and a nonclinical group of children residing in the community (N = 29). Variables investigating specific types of aggression, IQ, and psychopathology were assessed across the three groups. Clinically referred children scored worse on all measures compared with nonclinical community children. Clinically referred abused children scored higher on measures of aggression and significantly higher on measures of reactive aggression and verbal aggression than clinically referred nonabused children. Clinically referred abused children had significantly lower verbal IQ scores than clinically referred nonabused children, but no difference in psychopathology. Results support the importance of assessing specific types of aggression in samples of traumatized youths. Verbal information processing may be especially vulnerable in abused children and adolescents and enhance vulnerability to aggressive responding.Source
Connor, D. F., Doerfler, L. A., Volungis, A. M., Steingard, R. J., & Melloni, R. H. (2003), Aggressive Behavior in Abused Children. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1008: 79–90. doi: 10.1196/annals.1301.009
DOI
10.1196/annals.1301.009Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/45451PubMed ID
14998874Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1196/annals.1301.009