The enduring effect of maltreatment on antisocial behavior: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies

The maltreatment-antisocial behavior relationship has been a focus of research for decades. Nevertheless, understanding this association has been largely based on cross-sectional designs and on juvenile antisocial outcomes. The present meta-analysis aimed to extend previous work on the maltreatment-antisocial relation by focusing on prospective longitudinal studies that have followed-up participants into adulthood. General, maltreatment and abusive intimate partner violent behaviors were included as outcomes. A total of 14 studies including 18 independent samples and 20,946 individuals were considered. Our results revealed that maltreated youth are nearly two times as likely to engage in antisocial behaviors in adulthood compared with their non-maltreated peers (OR = 1.96; CI[1.42, 2.71]). The relation between maltreatment and antisocial behavior was stronger when less covariates or the bivariate associations between them were considered, and maltreatment assessed in both childhood and adolescent years was more strongly related to the antisocial outcome. Nevertheless, the maltreatment-antisocial behavior link prevailed in the contrasting conditions, i.e., maltreatment assessed in childhood or in adolescent years, in multivariate analyses. Our results support an enduring effect of maltreatment on subsequent involvement in antisocial behavior, stressing the importance of preventing this victimization experience or, at best, the adverse consequences of maltreatment.