Early Childhood Aggression Among Child Welfare Involved Children: The Interplay between Child Maltreatment and Protective Factors

Background and Purpose: Given that aggressive behavior in early childhood often serves as a precursor for life-course persistent antisocial behavior or other mental health problems, it is important to identify early risk and protective factors for aggression and offer early intervention services at one of the most critical periods in a child’s development. Currently, however, little is known about how different types of maltreatment and ecological protective factors may predict aggression in early childhood, either separately or in conjunction with each other. This study aims to fill these gaps by examining a) how the type of maltreatment (physical, sexual, emotional, neglect) is related to early childhood aggression among child welfare-involved children; b) how ecological protective factors (i.e., child cognitive functioning, prosocial skills, parental warmth, parental well-being, neighborhood safety) are associated with aggression; and c) if there are significant interaction effects between maltreatment type and protective factors on early childhood aggression.

Methods: This study used Wave 1 data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW-I) and included 499 children who were four or five years old. Aggressive behavior was measured using the aggression scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The type of maltreatment was assessed using official reports of maltreatment and the Parent-Child Conflicts Tactic Scale (CTS-PC). The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) were used to measure the child’s cognitive functioning and prosocial skills, respectively. Parental warmth was measured by the Early Childhood Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (EC-HOME), and parental well-being was assessed based on three disorders (i.e., depression, alcohol dependence, drug dependence) measured by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form (CIDI-SF). Neighborhood safety was measured using the Abridged Community Environment Scale.  Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to examine the main and interaction effects of maltreatment type and ecological protective factors on early childhood aggression.

Results: Physically abused children exhibited significantly higher levels of aggressive behavior in early childhood, compared to children who have not been physically abused (B = 3.44, p < .001). Living in a neighborhood with fewer problems (e.g., assaults, delinquency, gangs, open drug use, unsupervised children) was associated with lower levels of aggressive behavior in children (B = -.49, p = .009). Emotional abuse had significant interaction effects with child prosocial skills and parental well-being; the protective effects of child prosocial skills and parental well-being on early childhood aggression were significantly stronger in emotionally abused children than in children who were not emotionally abused.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of parental well-being as well as neighborhood problems influencing child aggression support the reality of children living within and being influenced by myriad factors within complex environments. Highly effective programming will need to address both the type of maltreatment and ecological protective factors across all levels of functioning (e.g., child prosocial skills, parental well-being, and neighborhood safety) to prevent early childhood aggression among at-risk children rather than focusing on any one level at a time.