Tl. Dukewich et al., A longitudinal analysis of maternal abuse potential and developmental delays in children of adolescent mothers, CHILD ABUSE, 23(5), 1999, pp. 405-420
Objective: This project was designed to examine the impact of adolescent mo
thers' abuse potential on the development of preschool children. The specif
ic aims were to demonstrate relationships between maternal abuse potential
and developmental problems in preschool children, to examine these relation
ships across time, and to determine whether maternal abuse potential predic
ted developmental delays after controlling for problematic parenting orient
ations.
Method: Using a longitudinal design, we examined 146 first time mothers and
their children. Maternal abuse potential was assessed when children were 1
, 3, and 5 years old; problematic parenting orientation was assessed when t
he children were 6 months old; and child development (i.e., IQ, adaptive be
havior, and behavior problems) was assessed at ages 3 and 5.
Results: Regression analyses revealed significant relationships between mat
ernal abuse potential and a variety of developmental problems. Path analyse
s revealed unidirectional relationships between abuse potential predicting
IQ and adaptive behaviors. Further analyses indicated that maternal abuse p
otential at 1 and 3 years predicted intelligence and adaptive behavior at a
ges 3 and 5, even when problematic parenting orientation was controlled. In
contrast, children's behavioral problems at ages 3 and 5 was better accoun
ted for by problematic parenting orientation than by abuse potential.
Conclusions: The results of this study revealed that developmental delays i
n children of adolescent are related to abuse potential. Two pathways were
found for predicting developmental delays: One pathway linked child abuse p
otential with IQ and adaptive functioning; the other pathway showed that pr
oblematic parenting orientation accounted for the development of emotional
and behavioral problems. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.