Childhood Maltreatment and Adolescent Risky Behavior: Mediating the Effect of Parent–Adolescent Conflict and Violent Tendencies

Abstract

Childhood maltreatment experiences are an important public health issue associated with a variety of short- and long-term social and psychological outcomes. Despite the negative impact of these experiences, little research has examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent risky behavior, which is a critical step in developing intervention services to prevent such behavior during adolescence. The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of parent–adolescent conflict and violent tendency in the relationships between childhood maltreatment and adolescent risky behavior in adolescence. Participants were 303 high school students, 60.1% female (n = 182) and 39.9% (n = 121) male, from four different high schools in Türkiye. It was found that childhood maltreatment was significantly and positively associated with adolescent risky behavior. In addition, that parent–adolescent conflict and violent tendencies mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adolescent risky behavior. And also parent–adolescent conflict mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and violent tendencies and adolescent risky behavior. The results of this study suggest that parent–adolescent conflict and violent tendencies are important in increasing the impact of childhood maltreatment on adolescent risky behavior. In order to reduce the impact of maltreated childhood experiences on risky behavior, interventions can be designed to increase positive adolescent–parent relationships and reduce violent tendencies.

Keywords

• childhood maltreatment
• adolescent risky behavior
• parent–adolescent conflict
• violent tendency