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Child maltreatment and the early onset of problem behaviors: Can a program of nurse homevisitation break the link?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2002

JOHN ECKENRODE
Affiliation:
Cornell University
DAVID ZIELINSKI
Affiliation:
Cornell University
ELLIOTT SMITH
Affiliation:
Cornell University
LYSCHA A. MARCYNYSZYN
Affiliation:
Cornell University
CHARLES R. HENDERSON, JR.
Affiliation:
Cornell University
HARRIET KITZMAN
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
ROBERT COLE
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
JANE POWERS
Affiliation:
Cornell University
DAVID L. OLDS
Affiliation:
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between child maltreatment and the early onset of problem behaviors in the Elmira Nurse Home Visitation Program. Participants were predominantly low-income and unmarried mothers and their first-born children who were randomized either to receive over 2 years of home-visitation services by nurses or to be placed in a comparison group. Data were drawn from a follow-up study that took place when the children were 15 years of age. Results demonstrated that, in the comparison group, child maltreatment was associated with significant increases in the number of early onset problem behaviors reported by the youth. For the youth in the nurse-visited group there was no relationship between maltreatment and early onset problem behaviors. We suggest that this finding was due to the effects of the intervention in reducing the number as well as the developmental timing of the maltreatment incidents. Results suggest that prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses can moderate the risk of child maltreatment as a predictor of conduct problems and antisocial behavior among children and youth born into at-risk families.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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