Gender Dfferences in Child Maltreatment, Teen Dating Violence, and, Its Impacts on Depression of Adolescents

Background and Purpose: Theoretical literature suggests that childhood exposure to violence at home, such as child maltreatment, influence not only children’s later violent behavior in their relationships, such as teen dating violence, but is also associated with a myriad of long-term negative health consequences, such as depression. Although several meta-analyses confirm the paths linking child maltreatment, teen dating violence, and depression of adolescents, these pathways appear to be varied by gender. However, studies are often limited in understanding temporal mechanisms by which child maltreatment may lead to teen dating violence and to developing depression during adolescence by depending on cross-sectional data. Also, current literature lacks examinations about how these pathways vary by gender. This study fills these gaps by assessing the gender differences in the temporal relationships between child maltreatment and teen dating violence, and its impacts on depression of adolescents by analyzing longitudinal data.

Methods: The analytic sample is 842 adolescents and their primary caregivers, drawn from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Data from wave1, wave 5, and wave 6 are utilized in the analysis. Child maltreatment is measured by 15 items based on the Conflict Tactics Scale: Parent-Child Version from the primary caregiver survey at wave 5. Teen dating violence is measured by four items from the Toledo Adolescent Relationship Study and the Relationship Dynamics and Social Life Study in the adolescent survey at wave 6. Adolescent depression is measured by five items based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale from the adolescent survey at wave 6. Adolescent gender had two categories, such as boy and girl based on the primary caregiver survey at wave 1. Control variables include adolescent age, race/ethnicity, household income, and the primary caregiver’s relationship status. Jamovi 2.3.28 and Medmod module in Jamovi are used for analyses.

Results: Results from mediation models show that child maltreatment is positively linked to both victimization and perpetration of teen dating violence, which in turn, lead to the depression of adolescents, respectively. In addition, results from moderated mediation models reveal that the effect size of the paths linking child maltreatment, victimization and perpetration of teen dating violence, and adolescent depression are larger for boys than those of girls (victimization β= .11, p< .001 vs. β= .06, p< .001; perpetration β= .19, p< .001 vs. β= .12, p< .001).

Conclusions and Implications: Findings of this study support the need for practitioners to increase efforts to detect and treat adolescent depression among those who have experienced childhood maltreatment and teen dating violence. Also, such interventions should take the specific needs of boys into account, as boys have been found to be at greater risk of the paths from child maltreatment to adolescent depression through teen dating violence.