Abstract
This study assessed the association between child maltreatment (ages 0—11) and offending behavior within gender-specific models. Prospectively collected data, including official measures of maltreatment and offending, were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a panel study of 1,539 low-income minority participants. Multivariate probit analyses revealed that maltreatment significantly predicted delinquency for males but not females yet forged a significant relation to adult crime for both genders. Exploratory, confirmatory, and comparative analyses suggested that mechanisms linking maltreatment to adult crime primarily differed across gender. For males, childhood-era externalizing behavior and school commitment along with adolescent-era socioemotional skills, delinquency, and educational attainment explained the maltreatment-crime nexus. For females, childhood-era parent factors along with adolescent indicators of externalizing behavior, cognitive performance, mobility, and educational attainment partially mediated the maltreatment—crime relation. Implications of results were explored.
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