Developmental Trajectory of Aggressive Behavior from Ages 4 to 12 in an Urban Cohort: The Role of Maternal Childhood Trauma

Background and Purpose: A growing literature documents the intergenerational effects of maternal childhood trauma (MCT) on offspring developmental outcomes. However, cross-sectional designs of prior studies limit understanding of long-term effects of MCT on the next generation. We examined the long-term relationship of MCT to the developmental trajectory of their children’s aggressive behavior from preschool to preadolescence in an urban sample.

Methods: Participants were 256 mother-child (55% girls) dyads, who were urban, of low socioeconomic status, and primarily African American (81%), recruited at childbirth for a prospective study of prenatal cocaine exposure. Aggressive behavior was assessed using caregiver-reported Child Behavior Checklist at ages 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 12. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used for a retrospective assessment of maternal experience of childhood trauma at the 4-year post-partum assessment. Using Mplus v.8 with full information maximum likelihood estimation, Latent Growth Curve Modeling was conducted to examine the relationship of MCT with children’s aggressive behavior trajectory, adjusting for time-invariant (child sex, race, prenatal cocaine exposure status, child-perceived violence exposure assessed at age 12; caregiver age, education) and time-varying covariate (maternal psychological distress).

Results: The unconditional model fit the data (χ²(20)=20.741, p=.188; CFI=.993; TLI=.993; RMSEA=.034). At age 4, urban children had an average aggressive behavior score of 53.54 (p<.001), which increased over an 8-year period (mean slope=0.25, p<.001). The variances of the intercept (D_i=20.62) and slope (D_s=0.46) were significant (ps<.001), indicating that these children varied on their initial level of aggression and the rate of increase over time. The conditional model fit the data (χ²(74)=126.350, p<.001, CFI=.911, TLI=.929, RMSEA=.050). Children of mothers with higher levels of childhood trauma had higher levels of aggressive behavior at age 4 (β=0.166, p=.036), and this trend in the increase rate (the higher the MCT, the higher the children’s aggression) remained over the 8-year period (β=-0.027, p=.749). While girls’ and boys’ initial aggression level was not different (β=-0.061, p=.375), boys demonstrated a more rapid increase in aggression (β=.294, p<.001). Children with higher exposure levels to postnatal violence had a more rapid increase in aggression (β=0.367, p<.001). Maternal psychological distress was related to concurrent aggressive behavior (age 4’s β =.23, age 9’s β=.17, age 10’s β=.20, age 11’s β=.23, age 12’s β=.25, all ps<.001), except age 6 (β=.04, p=.311). No other covariates were significant.

Conclusions and Implications: Developmental courses of aggressive behavior in general populations typically exhibit higher levels during the preschool years, followed by a decrease as children progress through childhood and adolescence. Inclines in aggressive behavior from ages 4 to 12 observed within this urban cohort are notable. Screening for aggressive behaviors at preschool ages could provide opportunities for early interventions for boys, especially. MCT was related to higher overall levels of aggression over time even after controlling for maternal psychological distress. Postnatal violence exposure was also identified as a critical target of prevention to mitigate maladaptive development of aggression in children. Understanding contextual factors underlying long-term effects of MCT on children's development can inform targeted interventions to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of violence.