Older School-Aged Children

School-aged children with histories of neglect have serious learning deficits. They score significantly lower on measures of school performance than physically abused or nonmaltreated children, particularly in the areas of reading and math. Lack of intellectual stimulation in the neglectful home environment appears to result in significant language deficits. Teachers report that neglected children work at below average levels and learn at below average levels. They also rate neglected children as having more behavioral problems in school than nonmaltreated children. Neglected children are absent from school significantly more often and have a higher percentage of grade repeats than nonmaltreated children.

One study of maltreated children revealed that the maltreated 6-9-year-old children but not 4-5-year-olds were rated by their mothers as having significantly more behavioral problems, especially symptoms of depression and social withdrawal than nonmaltreated children from lower income families. However, neglected children were not differentiated from abused children. Further research is needed to specify developmental effects for children by type of maltreatment and by age.

Adolescents

Juvenile delinquency is frequently associated with child abuse and neglect. Research findings are complicated because of weak research designs and inconsistencies in the definitions of delinquent acts and child abuse and neglect. Yet, there is evidence of a high incidence of abuse and neglect among delinquent populations and a high incidence of delinquency among maltreated adolescents.

Retrospective studies of delinquents have reported rates of abuse and neglect that vary from 9 to over 60 percent, depending on the source of the information. Self-reports of prior abuse and neglect among delinquents run as high as 51 percent. A study of 5,136 children in 1,423 families reported for child maltreatment in New York revealed that 42 percent of the families subsequently had at least 1 child taken to court for delinquent or ungovernable behavior. This rate was five times greater than the rate in the general population of families in the counties studied. A recent prospective study by Widom did not differentiate neglected from abused children, but revealed that 29 percent of the subjects who were abused and neglected as children had an adult criminal record, compared to 21 percent of the nonmaltreated controls.

Most often in research, neglect is not distinguished from abuse, and the causal sequence between child maltreatment and delinquent behavior is not clear. There are also significant variables that mediate the relationship between maltreatment and delinquency. Widom's recent study would indicate that race, age, sex, identified behavior problems in mother's employment, and father's alcoholism all can increase or reduce the chances of criminal arrest for a maltreated child.

Mediating Effects

Negative developmental consequences for neglected children are not inevitable. Other factors have been identified, which either buffer or add to the effects of neglect on children. Stability of the children's living environment has been identified as modifying the negative effects of maltreatment, whereas multiple out-of-home placements, multiple life stresses, and parental depression contribute to more negative developmental effects of neglect and abuse on children. Children with higher I.Q.'s also appear to suffer less serious developmental effects.

Neglect-Related Child Fatalities

Studies of child fatalities related to child maltreatment indicate that children die from neglect almost as often as from physical abuse. A review of 556 child fatality cases reported to CPS agencies in 1986 indicated that 44.3 percent were related to physical neglect.

Margolin's study of 82 fatalities over an 8-year period revealed that 34 (40 percent) were from neglect. The typical neglect fatality was a male child (male children were twice as likely as females to die) under age 3, living with a single mother and two or three siblings. The child typically died because a caregiver was not there at a critical moment. The fatal neglect was most often a preventable accident associated with a single, life-threatening incident. In 39 percent of the cases, the neglectful families were previously known to CPS agencies. Margolin discovered that several items from Polanksy's Childhood Level of Living Scale were significantly correlated with fatal child neglect. These items concerned exercise of judgment about leaving children alone.

Alfaro's review of nine child fatality studies also concluded that fatalities from neglect were almost as frequent as from abuse. Neglect was identified as contributing to the child's death in from 25 percent to 70 percent of the cases. Although many of Alfaro's findings were consistent with those of Margolin, the neglect-related fatalities were most often from two-parent homes. The victims were most often males, under age 2, and often the youngest or only child in the family. Alfaro concluded that fatal child neglect is difficult to predict and prevent. Reliable predictors do not exist, and in 70 percent of the cases, the families had not been previously reported for child abuse or neglect.

To summarize, the indications from limited research are that child victims of neglect fail to develop secure psychological attachments as infants, and this seriously handicaps their subsequent development. Neglected preschool children demonstrate lack of readiness for learning, behavior problems, and less active interaction with peers. School-aged neglected children do poorly in school, but the connection between delinquency and abuse is less clear. Neglected children under age 3 are at high risk for child fatalities. However, children who have higher I.Q.'s and/or who live in less stressful, stable home environments suffer less serious effects of neglect.

Tags: Child Abuse

About the Author

Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.