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We thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris and funded by Grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. A special acknowledgment to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (
). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Childhood neglect is one of the most common forms maltreatment in the United States (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996). The Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect reported that 60% of all maltreatment cases in the United States included some form of neglect, with educational and physical neglect being the most prevalent type of neglect (Sedlak et al., 2010). Research has demonstrated that childhood neglect may have serious negative consequences that can extend from childhood into adolescence and perhaps adulthood (Trickett & McBride-Chang, 1995). For instance, neglected youths are more likely to exhibit externalizing behaviors (i.e., defiant, disruptive) in childhood than nonneglected youths. The behavior of neglected youths is primarily characterized by social awkwardness, social isolation, poor impulse control, internalizing behaviors, and a negative view of oneself and others (Cicchetti & Toth, 1995; Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002). Neglected youths often exhibit developmental delays in language and social skills in early and middle childhood, more so than nonneglected youths and youths who experience other forms of maltreatment. These developmental problems often continue into late childhood and early adolescence (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002).
Although there a large body of literature linking neglect to behavioral problems in childhood and early adolescence, there is less research that examines whether neglect is associated with antisocial and maladaptive behaviors in adulthood. Recently, researchers have begun to examine the long-term effects of neglect, and these studies show that individuals who were neglected during childhood are at risk for engaging in criminal behavior...