A longitudinal analysis of maternal abuse potential and developmental delays in children of adolescent mothers

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.