MOBILITY AS A MEDIATOR OF THE EFFECTS OF CHILD MALTREATMENT ON ACADEMIC-PERFORMANCE

This study examined the role of residential and school mobility as a m ediator between child maltreatment and academic outcomes. Using a samp le of 711 maltreated and nonmaltreated children ranging from 5 to 15 y ears old matched on gender, grade, school, and socioeconomic status, p ath analytic techniques were employed to assess direct and indirect ef fects of maltreatment on recent achievement test scores, current grade s, and grade repetitions. The results indicated that mobility did help account for the effects of maltreatment on each of the outcomes. For grades in English/reading, 32.7% of the effect of maltreatment was acc ounted for by amount of mobility, while for test scores and grade repe titions the numbers were 14.6% and 19.1%, respectively.