Examining the Effects of Child Maltreatment and Child Welfare Experiences on Early Sexual Initiation and Criminal Justice Contact

Abstract

Previous research suggests that experiences involving child maltreatment and the child welfare system are related to an increased likelihood of negative outcomes. Specifically, research often finds that placement in a group home significantly increases the likelihood of risky sexual behavior and both official and self-reported offending. Although this relationship is one of the more consistent findings in the literature, less is known about whether this relationship is one of state dependence or population heterogeneity. In other words, previous research has not adequately addressed whether placement in a group home is causally related to these negative outcomes (state dependence) or is simply another symptom related to the causes of group home placements (population heterogeneity). Using the National Survey of Child Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) data and the theoretical lenses of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory of Crime and Sampson and Laub’s Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control, I examine if factors such as the timing of maltreatment, type of maltreatment, and types of placements are significantly related to early sexual initiation and criminal justice contact when accounting for propensity via self-control. Findings suggest that when accounting for propensity via self-control, the timing of the maltreatment, type of maltreatment, and placement in a group home are still significantly related to early sexual initiation and criminal justice contact. Specifically, group home placements are related to a significant increase in the odds of early sexual initiation and criminal justice contact