THE DEVELOPMENTAL IMPACT OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF CHILD-ABUSE AND NEGLECT

This paper reviews and integrates research knowledge about the impact of different forms of child maltreatment-physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Both the short-term impact on the child and the long-term impact on the adolescent and adult are considered. A developmental perspective guides the review. Research studies on these forms of child maltreatment which meet certain criteria (e.g., an appropriate comparison group) are reviewed with the aim of understanding how the experience of child abuse or neglect interferes with development at the time it is experienced and how it may affect the resolution of later developmental processes or tasks as the individual goes through adolescence and then adulthood. Evidence about the role of other mediating factors such as gender and other individual difference variables, characteristics of the maltreatment, and family environment is also presented. Gaps in knowledge are noted, and recommendations are made for future research. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.