Parsing Language and Measures Around Child Maltreatment

In this issue of Pediatrics , Dr. Pinto Pereira and colleagues1 describe important associations between maltreatment experiences in childhood and work–life circumstances in adulthood. The strength of this work lies in a unique British birth cohort followed over 50 years. Using exposure variables collected both prospectively (child neglect) and retrospectively (child abuse and emotional neglect), the authors identify differences in employment, financial stability, social class, and social mobility at 23 and 50 years of age after adjustment for early-life confounders. The authors go on to explore how mental health and cognitive capacities in adolescence may serve as mediating factors between these childhood experiences and adult socioeconomic outcomes. The findings, particularly those prospectively collected on neglect, add to growing evidence that child maltreatment contributes significantly to the trajectory of a child’s life.2–5 As the literature of child maltreatment, adverse childhood experiences, and social determinants of health expands, however, it is worth critically examining the measures used to define these childhood experiences. In their work, … Address correspondence to Kristine A. Campbell, MD, MSc, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Primary Children’s Hospital Center for Safe and Healthy Families, 81 North Mario Capecchi Dr, 4E-200, Salt Lake City, UT 84113. E-mail: kristine.campbell{at}hsc.utah.edu