The longitudinal effects of neglect on aggression and delinquency: Testing competing hypotheses

Childhood neglect is the most common form of maltreatment, yet it remains understudied, with questions remaining about how it imparts harm across development. This study reports on a theory-driven test of whether duration of exposure to neglect across childhood (cumulative hypothesis) or timing of exposure during specific developmental periods (critical period hypothesis) better explains the likelihood of adolescent aggression and delinquency. We examined the effects of longitudinal patterns of exposure to two types of neglect (failure to provide and lack of supervision) on aggression and delinquency at ages 12 and 16. Using LONGSCAN data (N = 1,354), we created dummy variables for failure to provide and lack of supervision across four-year developmental periods (0–4, 5–8, 9–12, and 13–16). Using a model-testing approach estimating a series of models that each represent a specific hypothesis, we identified the best fitting model using general linear tests and fit statistics. Our results indicate that there is an early adolescence critical period for lack of supervision for age 16. These findings add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that neglect is harmful and requires attention from child welfare throughout childhood and into adolescence.