Hostname: page-component-55f67697df-jr75m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-10T01:40:29.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Developmental pathways from child maltreatment to adolescent suicide-related behaviors: The internalizing and externalizing comorbidity hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2019

Erinn Bernstein Duprey Open the ORCID record for Erinn Bernstein Duprey [Opens in a new window] ,
Assaf Oshri  and
Sihong Liu
Erinn Bernstein Duprey*
Affiliation:
Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY
Assaf Oshri
Affiliation:
The Youth Development Institute, Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Sihong Liu
Affiliation:
The Youth Development Institute, Department of Human Development and Family Science, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
*
Author for Correspondence: Erinn Duprey, Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY14642. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Child maltreatment is a robust risk factor for suicidal ideation and behaviors during adolescence. Elevations in internalizing and externalizing symptomology have been identified as two distinct developmental pathways linking child maltreatment and adolescent risk for suicide. However, recent research suggests that the co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing symptomology may form a distinct etiological pathway for adolescent risk behaviors. Using the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) sample (N = 1,314), the present study employed a person-centered approach to identify patterns of concurrent change in internalizing and externalizing psychopathology over five time points from early childhood to adolescence in relation to previous experiences of child maltreatment and subsequent suicidal ideation and behaviors. Results indicated four distinct bivariate externalizing and internalizing growth trajectories. Group membership in a heightened comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectory mediated the association between childhood abuse and adolescent suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviors. These findings suggest that the concurrent development of externalizing and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence may constitute a unique developmental trajectory that confers risk for suicide-related outcomes.

Keywords

adolescencechild maltreatmentcomorbiditygrowth-mixture modelingsuicidal ideation and behavior
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , August 2020 , pp. 945 - 959
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for Child Behavior Checklist/ 4–18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Dept. of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Arens, A. M., Gaher, R. M., & Simons, J. S. (2012). Child maltreatment and deliberate self-harm among college students: Testing mediation and moderation models for impulsivity. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82, 328–337. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.2012.01165.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barnett, D., Manly, J. T., & Cicchetti, D. (1993). Defining child maltreatment: The interface between policy and research. Child Abuse, Child Development, and Social Policy, 8, 7–73.Google Scholar
Bolger, K. E., & Patterson, C. J. (2001). Pathways from child maltreatment to internalizing problems: Perceptions of control as mediators and moderators. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 913–940. http://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.1385.CommonCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brezo, J., Barker, E. D., Paris, J., Hébert, M., Vitaro, F., Tremblay, R. E., & Turecki, G. (2008). Childhood trajectories of anxiousness and disruptiveness as predictors of suicide attempts. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 162, 1015–1021. http://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.162.11.1015CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Banny, A. (2014). A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Child Maltreatment. In Lewis, M. & Rudolph, K. D. (Eds.), Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology (pp. 723–741). Boston, MA: Springer US. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9608-3_37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. a. (2002). A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 6–20. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.70.1.6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collishaw, S., Pickles, A., Messer, J., Rutter, M., Shearer, C., & Maughan, B. (2007). Resilience to adult psychopathology following childhood maltreatment: Evidence from a community sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 31, 211–229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coohey, C., Dirks-Bihun, A., Renner, L. M., & Baller, R. (2014). Strain, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts among maltreated adolescents in the United States. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 1171–9. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.04.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cribbie, R. A. (2007). Multiplicity control in structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14, 98–112. http://doi.org/10.1080/10705510709336738CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, E. M., Schermerhorn, A. C., Davies, P. T., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Cummings, J. S. (2006). Interparental discord and child adjustment: Prospective investigations of emotional security as an explanatory mechanism. Child Development, 77132–152. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00861.xGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curtin, S. C., Warner, M., & Hedegaard, H. (2016). Increase in suicide in the United States, 1999–2014. NCHS data brief, no. 241. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.Google Scholar
Diemer, M. A., Mistry, R. S., Wadsworth, M. E., López, I., & Reimers, F. (2013). Best practices in conceptualizing and measuring social class in psychological research. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 13(1), 77–113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/asap.2013.13.issue-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, E. C., McLaughlin, K. A., Slopen, N., Rosand, J., & Smoller, J. W. (2013). Developmental timing of child maltreatment and symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation in young adulthood: Results from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Depression and Anxiety, 30, 955–964. http://doi.org/10.1002/da.22102Google ScholarPubMed
Dvir, Y., Ford, J. D., Hill, M., & Frazier, J. A. (2014). Childhood maltreatment, emotional dysregulation, and psychiatric comorbidities. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 22, 149–161. http://doi.org/10.1097/HRP.0000000000000014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enders, C. K., & Bandalos, D. L. (2001). The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 8, 430–457. http://doi.org/10.1207/s15328007sem0803_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
English, D. J., & LONGSCAN Investigators. (1997). Modified maltreatment classification system (MMCS). For More Information Visit the LONGSCAN Website at http://www.iprc.unc.edu/Longscan.Google Scholar
English, D. J., Upadhyaya, M. P., Litrownik, A. J., Marshall, J. M., Runyan, D. K., Graham, J. C., & Dubowitz, H. (2005). Maltreatment's wake: The relationship of maltreatment dimensions to child outcomes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 29, 597–619. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.12.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gomez, S. H., Tse, J., Wang, Y., Turner, B., Millner, A. J., Nock, M. K., & Dunn, E. C. (2017). Are there sensitive periods when child maltreatment substantially elevates suicide risk? Results from a nationally representative sample of adolescents. Depression and Anxiety, 34, 734–741. http://doi.org/10.1002/da.22650CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hadland, S. E., Wood, E., Dong, H., Marshall, B. D. L., Kerr, T., Montaner, J. S., & DeBeck, K. (2015). Suicide attempts and childhood maltreatment among street youth: A prospective cohort study. Pediatrics, 136, 440–449. http://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-1108CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hindley, N. (2006). Risk factors for recurrence of maltreatment: A systematic review. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 91, 744–752. http://doi.org/10.1136/adc.2005.085639CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoeksma, J. B., & Kelderman, H. (2006). On growth curves and mixture models. Infant and Child Development, 15, 627–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. G., Cohen, P., Gould, M. S., Kasen, S., Brown, J., & Brook, J. S. (2002). Childhood adversities, interpersonal difficulties, and risk for suicide attempts during late adolescence and early adulthood. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 59, 741–749. http://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.59.8.741CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kann, L., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shanklin, S. L., Flint, K. H., Hawkins, J., … Zaza, S. (2016). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance United States, 2015. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 65, 1–174. http://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6506a1Google ScholarPubMed
Kerr, D. C. R., Reinke, W. M., & Eddy, J. M. (2013). Trajectories of depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors across adolescence: Associations with histories of suicide attempt and ideation in early adulthood. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 43, 50–66. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1943-278X.2012.00127.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim-Spoon, J., Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2013). A longitudinal study of emotion regulation, emotion lability-negativity, and internalizing symptomatology in maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Child Development, 84, 512–527. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01857.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knight, E. D., Smith, J. B., Martin, L., Lewis, T., & LONGSCAN Investigators. (1998). Measures for Assessment of Functioning and Outcomes in Longitudinal Research on Child Abuse Volume 3: Early Adolescence (Ages 12–14). Accessible at the LONGSCAN web site (http://www.iprc.unc.edu/longscan/).Google Scholar
Lanza, S. T., Tan, X., & Bray, B. C. (2013). Latent class analysis with distal outcomes: A flexible model-based approach. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 20, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larrabee, H., & Lewis, T. (2014). Longitudinal studies of child abuse and neglect (LONGSCAN) Assessments 0–18: User's Guide. Ithaca, NY: National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, Cornell University.Google Scholar
Lauterbach, D., & Armour, C. (2015). Symptom trajectories among child survivors of maltreatment: Findings from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44(2), 369–379. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-9998-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, F., & Godinet, M. T. (2014). The impact of repeated maltreatment on behavioral trajectories from early childhood to early adolescence. Children and Youth Services Review, 36, 22–29. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.10.014CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luthar, S., Cicchetti, D., & Becker, B. (2000). The construct of resilience: A critial evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child Development, 71, 543–562. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.pestbp.2011.02.012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manly, J. T., Kim, J. E., Rogosch, F. A., & Cicchetti, D. (2001). Dimensions of child maltreatment and children's adjustment: Contributions of developmental timing and subtype. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 759–782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masten, A. S. (2014). Ordinary magic: Resilience in development. New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Miller, A. B., Adams, L. M., Esposito-Smythers, C., Thompson, R., & Proctor, L. J. (2014). Parents and friendships: A longitudinal examination of interpersonal mediators of the relationship between child maltreatment and suicidal ideation. Psychiatry Research, 220, 998–1006. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.10.009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, A. B., Esposito-Smythers, C., Weismoore, J. T., & Renshaw, K. D. (2013). The relation between child maltreatment and adolescent suicidal behavior: A systematic review and critical examination of the literature. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 16, 146–72. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-013-0131-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mills, R., Scott, J., Alati, R., O'Callaghan, M., Najman, J. M., & Strathearn, L. (2013). Child maltreatment and adolescent mental health problems in a large birth cohort. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37, 292–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moran, P. B., Vuchinich, S., & Hall, N. K. (2004). Associations between types of maltreatment and substance use during adolescence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28, 565–574. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.12.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moylan, C. A., Herrenkohl, T. I., Sousa, C., Tajima, E. A., Herrenkohl, R. C., & Russo, M. J. (2010). The effects of child abuse and exposure to domestic violence on adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Journal of Family Violence, 25, 53–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2017). Mplus User's Guide (8th Ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.Google Scholar
O'Connor, R. C. (2011). The integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behavior. Crisis, 32, 295–298. http://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000120CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oshri, A., Duprey, E. B., Kogan, S. M., Carlson, M. W., & Liu, S. (2018). Growth patterns of future orientation among maltreated youth: A prospective examination of the emergence of resilience. Developmental Psychology, 54(8), 1456–1471. http://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000528CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oshri, A., Kogan, S. M., Kwon, J. A., Wickrama, K. A. S., Vanderbroek, L., Palmer, A. A., & Mackillop, J. (2018). Impulsivity as a mechanism linking child abuse and neglect with substance use in adolescence and adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 30, 417–435. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579417000943CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oshri, A., Rogosch, F. A., Burnette, M. L., & Cicchetti, D. (2011). Developmental pathways to adolescent cannabis abuse and dependence: Child maltreatment, emerging personality, and internalizing versus externalizing psychopathology. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 25, 634–644. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0023151CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oshri, A., Sutton, T. E., Clay-Warner, J., & Miller, J. D. (2015). Child maltreatment types and risk behaviors: Associations with attachment style and emotion regulation dimensions. Personality and Individual Differences, 73, 127–133. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrenko, C. L. M., Friend, A., Garrido, E. F., Taussig, H. N., & Culhane, S. E. (2012). Does subtype matter? Assessing the effects of maltreatment on functioning in preadolescent youth in out-of-home care. Child Abuse and Neglect, 36, 633–644. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2012.07.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollak, S. D. (2008). Mechanisms linking early experience and the emergence of emotions: Illustrations from the study of maltreated children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 370–375. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00608.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proctor, L. J., Skriner, L. C., Roesch, S., & Litrownik, A. J. (2010). Trajectories of behavioral adjustment following early placement in foster care: Predicting stability and change over 8 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 49, 464–473. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2010.01.022Google ScholarPubMed
Rogosch, F. A., Oshri, A., & Cicchetti, D. (2010). From child maltreatment to adolescent cannabis abuse and dependence: A developmental cascade model. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 883–897. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579410000520CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Runyan, D. K., Curtis, P. A., Hunter, W. M., Black, M. M., Kotch, J. B., Bangdiwala, S., … Landsverk, J. (1998). LONGSCAN: A consortium for longitudinal studies of maltreatment and the life course of children. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3, 275–285. http://doi.org/10.1016/S13591789(96)00027-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runyan, D., Dubowitz, H., English, D.J., Kotch, J.B., Litrownik, A., Thompson, R., & The LONGSCAN Investigator Group (2014). Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) Assessments 0–18 [Dataset]. Available from National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect Web site, http://www.ndacan.cornell.eduGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M. L., Kreppner, J. M., & O'Connor, T. G. (2001). Specificity and heterogeneity in children's responses to profound institutional privation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, 97–103. http://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.179.2.97CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rytilä-Manninen, M., Haravuori, H., Fröjd, S., Marttunen, M., & Lindberg, N. (2018). Mediators between adverse childhood experiences and suicidality. Child Abuse and Neglect, 77, 99–109. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.12.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schafer, J. L., & Graham, J. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147–177. http://doi.org/10.1037//1082-989X.7.2.147CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seltzer, M. H., Frank, K. A., & Byrk, A. S. (1994). The metric matters: The sensitivity of conclusions about growth in student achievement to choice of metric. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 16, 41–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taussig, H. N., Harpin, S. B., & Maguire, S. A. (2014). Suicidality among preadolescent maltreated children in foster care. Child Maltreatment, 19, 17–26. http://doi.org/10.1177/1077559514525503CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, R., English, D. J., & White, C. R. (2016). Maltreatment history as persistent risk: An extension of Li and Godinet (2014). Children and Youth Services Review, 64, 117–121. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.03.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children Youth and Families Children's Bureau. (2018). Child Maltreatment 2016. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2016.pdfGoogle Scholar
Verona, E., Sachs-Ericsson, N., & Joiner, T. E. (2004). Suicide attempts associated with externalizing psychopathology in an epidemiological sample. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 444–451. http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.3.444CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wanner, B., Vitaro, F., Tremblay, R. E., & Turecki, G. (2012). Childhood trajectories of anxiousness and disruptiveness explain the association between early-life adversity and attempted suicide. Psychological Medicine, 42, 2373–2382. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291712000438CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warmingham, J. M., Handley, E. D., Rogosch, F. A., Manly, J. T., & Cicchetti, D. (2019). Identifying maltreatment subgroups with patterns of maltreatment subtype and chronicity: A latent class analysis approach. Child Abuse & Neglect, 87, 28–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waters, E., Stewart-Brown, S., & Fitzpatrick, R. (2003). Agreement between adolescent self-report and parent reports of health and well-being: Results of an epidemiological study. Child: Care, Health and Development, 29, 501–509.Google ScholarPubMed
Wickrama, K. A. S., Lee, T. K., O'Neal, C. W., & Lorenz, F. O. (2016). Multivariate applications series. Higher-order growth curves and mixture modeling with Mplus: A practical guide. New York, NY, US: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315642741CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willner, C. J., Gatzke-Kopp, L. M., & Bray, B. C. (2016). The dynamics of internalizing and externalizing comorbidity across the early school years. Development and Psychopathology, 28, 1033–1052. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579416000687CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, H. W., Samuelson, S. L., Staudenmeyer, A. H., & Widom, C. S. (2015). Trajectories of psychopathology and risky behaviors associated with childhood abuse and neglect in low-income urban African American girls. Child Abuse & Neglect, 45, 108–121. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.02.009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: PDF

Duprey et al. supplementary material

Duprey et al. supplementary material
Download Duprey et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 176.2 KB