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This study investigates whether positive educational experiences in midadolescence mitigate the impact of exposure to substantiated maltreatment and reduces young adult antisocial behavior. While there is theoretical and empirical support for the mediating or moderating role of educational experiences on maltreatment and antisocial outcomes, few prospective studies exist. In this exploratory study, data are from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), a longitudinal panel study of 1,000 adolescents. The original sample included 73% males, and 85% African American or Hispanic youth of whom about 20% were maltreated. Measures in this study are from a combination of interview data and official records collected through age 23. Outcomes include self-reported crime and violence, arrest, and partner violence perpetration. Educational variables include midadolescent self-report of high school graduation, educational aspiration, college expectation, school commitment, teacher attachment, self-reported grades, school GPA, attendance, and an additive index of all school assets. Multivariate path analysis controlled for gender, race/ethnicity, poverty, and early antisocial behavior. Path analysis examined whether educational experiences mediated the impact of maltreatment on antisocial outcomes. Although maltreatment was significantly predictive of criminal and violent behaviors, it only was weakly associated with educational experiences. The impact of maltreatment on arrest was weakly mediated (reduced) by educational GPA and by high school graduation. The additive index also mediated the impact of maltreatment on crime and violence. Maltreatment's impact on partner violence was also weakly mediated by school GPA. Interaction terms were used to test for moderation: only one significant effect was found: school GPA protects maltreated youth from perpetration of partner violence as young adults. Although there are few significant effects in a number of models, the research is consistent with a focus on promoting school achievement and completion among urban youth in general, in conjunction with addressing earlier antisocial behavior problems. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures, and 8 notes.)

This study focuses on intergenerational continuity in violent partner relationships. We investigate whether exposure to caregiver intimate partner violence (IPV) during adolescence leads to increased involvement in IPV during early adulthood (age 21-23) and adulthood (age 29-31). We also investigate whether this relationship differs by gender. Although there is theoretical and empirical support for intergenerational continuity of relationship violence, there are few prospective studies of this issue. We use data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), a longitudinal study of the development of antisocial behavior in a community sample of 1,000 urban youth followed from age 14 to adulthood. The original sample includes 73% men and 85% African American or Hispanic youth. Measures come from a combination of interviews and official records. The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) is used to assess IPV and severe IPV in the youth and parent generations. Analyses controlled for child physical abuse, race/ethnicity as well as parent education, family stability, and poverty. In multivariate models, adolescent exposure to caregiver severe IPV resulted in significantly increased risk of relationship violence in early adulthood (age 21-23). Furthermore, there is an indirect effect of adolescent exposure to severe IPV on later adult involvement in IPV (age 29-31), mediated by involvement in a violent relationship in early adulthood. These results were largely invariant by gender. However, we observed a direct pathway between IPV exposure and adult IPV for women (marginally significant) suggesting that adolescent exposure to caregiver IPV may set in motion women-specific processes. (Contains 4 tables and 5 notes.)

Links between living in a partner-violent home and subsequent aggressive and antisocial behavior are suggested by the "cycle of violence" hypothesis derived from social learning theory. Although there is some empirical support, to date, findings have been generally limited to cross-sectional studies predominantly of young children, or retrospective studies of adults. We address this issue with prospective data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), an ongoing longitudinal investigation of the development of antisocial behavior in a community sample of 1,000 urban youth followed from age 14 to adulthood. The original panel included 68% African American, 17% Hispanic, and 15% White participants, and was 72.9% male, and 27.1% female. Measures come from a combination of sources including interviews with parents, interviews with youth, and official records. We test the general hypothesis that there is a relationship between living in partner-violent homes during adolescence, and later antisocial behavior and relationship violence. Employing logistic regression and controlling for related covariates, including child physical abuse, we find a significant relationship between exposure to parental violence and adolescent conduct problems. The relationship between exposure to parental violence and measures of antisocial behavior and relationship aggression dissipates in early adulthood, however, exposure to severe parental violence is significantly related to early adulthood violent crime, and intimate partner violence. Our results suggest that exposure to severe parental violence during adolescence is indeed consequential for violent interactions in adulthood.

Statement of problem: "Childhood" maltreatment is known to be a risk factor for a range of later problems, but much less is known about "adolescent" maltreatment. The present study aims to investigate the impact of adolescent maltreatment on antisocial behavior, while controlling for prior levels of problem behavior as well as sociodemographic characteristics. Methods: Data are from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a cohort study of the development of problem behaviors in a sample of 1,000 urban youth followed from age 13 into adulthood. Subjects include 68% African American, 17% Hispanic, and 15% White youth. This analysis includes a maximum of 884 subjects, of whom 9.3% had substantiated maltreatment reports in adolescence. Among the maltreated adolescents, 14 experienced sex abuse, 36 experienced physical abuse, and 32 were neglected or emotionally abused. Outcomes explored in late adolescence (ages 16-18) and young adulthood (ages 20-22) include arrest, self-reported general and violent offending, and illicit drug use. Control variables include prior levels of these outcomes as well as sociodemographic characteristics like poverty, parent education, and caregiver changes. Results: Logistic regression analysis determined that experiencing any substantiated maltreatment during adolescence increases the odds of arrest, general and violent offending, and illicit drug use in young adulthood, even controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and prior levels of problem behavior. Different types of adolescent maltreatment, including neglect, appear to produce similar adverse behavioral consequences. Conclusions: Adolescent maltreatment necessitates increased attention in view of its enduring and potentially wide-ranging impact on the life span.

There is a well-developed literature examining the immediate consequences of experiencing maltreatment during childhood. However, because of the problems of conducting longitudinal studies which follow subjects over many years, less is known about the long-term consequences of maltreatment. Using the Rochester Youth Development study, a longitudinal study that followed a sample of seventh and eighth grade students into adulthood, the impact of the timing of maltreatment was examined. Youth were grouped into four categories: a) those who were never maltreated; b) those who were maltreated in childhood only; c) those who were maltreated in adolescence only; and d) those who were maltreated during both childhood and adolescence. Subjects were compared on a number of outcome variables which have been previously linked to maltreatment. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

Objective: Youth exposure to intimate partner violence has been theorized to increase the risk of adverse outcomes in adulthood including substance-use problems. However, the limited research on the association between early exposure to intimate partner violence and later alcohol- or drug-use problems is inconclusive. Using a prospective design, this study investigates whether adolescent exposure to intimate partner violence increases the risk for problem substance use in early adulthood and whether this relationship differs by gender. Method: The study uses a subsample (n = 508) of participants from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study of urban, largely minority adolescents that oversampled youth at high risk for antisocial behavior and drug use. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess whether adolescent exposure to intimate partner violence predicted increased odds of four indicators of problem substance use in early adulthood, controlling for parental substance use, adolescent maltreatment, and sociodemographic risk factors. Results: Exposure to severe intimate partner violence as an adolescent significantly increased the odds of alcohol-use problems in early adulthood for young women (odds ratio = 5.63, p < .05) but not for young men. Exposure to intimate partner violence did not increase the odds of other substance-use indicators for either gender. Conclusions: Girls exposed to intimate partner violence may be at increased risk for problems with alcohol use in adulthood and should be a target for prevention and intervention efforts. Overall, however, the association between exposure to intimate partner violence and later substance-use problems is less than anticipated in this high-risk community sample. (J Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 71, 219-230, 2010), SUBSTANCE USE HAS BEEN and remains a significant public health target associated with multiple disruptions in family life and substantial personal and societal costs, including heightened risk for intimate partner [...]

Although accurate assessment of maltreatment is critical to understanding and interrupting its impact on the life course, comparison of different measurement approaches is rare. The goal of this study is to compare maltreatment reports from official Child Protective Services (CPS) records with retrospectively self-reported measures. Research questions address the prevalence and concordance of each type of measure, their relationship to social disadvantage, and their prediction to four antisocial outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood including arrest, self-reported violence, general offending, and illegal drug use. Data to address this comparison come from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), a longitudinal panel study of 1,000 adolescents. Findings indicate that self-reported retrospective maltreatment is somewhat more prevalent (29%) than official substantiated maltreatment (21%). Among those with official reports, in young adulthood about half self-reported maltreatment, whereas 37% of those self-reporting have an official report. In general, both sources suggest that maltreatment is associated with a higher prevalence of antisocial behavior. It is not clear that combining sources of information improves prediction. Keywords: maltreatment, measurement, antisocial behavior, violence, drug use