Child Maltreatment and Adult Health in a National Sample.pdf

Child Maltreatment and Adult Health in a National Sample: Heterogeneous Relational Contexts, Divergent Effects?* Markus H. Schafer, University of Toronto, Dept of Sociology Patricia M. Morton, and Purdue University, Dept of Sociology Center on Aging and the Life Course Kenneth. F. Ferraro Purdue University, Dept of Sociology Center on Aging and the Life Course Abstract This study considers the long-term health consequences of child maltreatment. Distinct from previous research, we examine the effects of maltreatment in the context of more general parental evaluations. Analyses used retrospective and current data from the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study. A considerable proportion of middle-and older-age adults who experienced frequent maltreatment nevertheless evaluated the relationship with their offending parent as “excellent”, “very good”, or “good” (e.g., 47% for physical and emotional maltreatment by mothers). Maltreated respondents generally evaluated their maltreating parents less favorably than non-maltreating parents, but there was considerable variation in these recollected relationships. Adults who experienced child maltreatment reported a greater number of chronic medical conditions and physical symptoms and lower self-rated health, but effects were smaller when they had positive relationships with their parents than when one or more of the relationships was perceived as negative. These findings highlight a common and seemingly paradoxical pattern among MIDUS participants: the co-presence of harsh parental behavior and positive recollections of parental relationships during childhood. Moreover, these surprising patterns of retrospective interpretation predict very different experiences of adult health—health problems are most pronounced among maltreatment in cases where the respondent had a generally negative relationship with one or more of his or her parents. * We are indebted to the Child Abuse Neglect reviewers for critical a