Mersky, J.P., Janczewski, C.E. (2013). Research has shown that children placed in foster care fall below population norms on many indicators of well-being. Yet few studies have been designed to distill the effects of foster care from conditions that precede foster care. Based on the availa…
Publications
From Child Maltreatment to Violent Offending: An Examination of Mixed-Gender and Gender-Specific Models
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2012). From child maltreatment to violent offending: An examination of mixed-gender and gender-specific models. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Research suggests that child maltreatment predicts juvenile violence, but it is uncertain whether the effects of victimization persist into adulthood or differ across gender. Furthermore, we know little about the mechanisms underlying the victim…
Unsafe at Any Age: Linking Childhood and Adolescent Maltreatment to Delinquency and Crime
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J., Reynolds, A. (2011). Unsafe at any age: linking childhood and adolescent maltreatment to delinquency and crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
This study compares the effects of childhood maltreatment and adolescent maltreatment on delinquency and crime, including violent and nonviolent offending. Data were derived from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, a prospective investigatio…
Maltreatment Prevention Through Early Childhood Intervention: A Confirmatory Evaluation of the Chicago Child-Parent Center Preschool Program
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J., Reynolds, A. (2011). Increased recognition of the consequences associated with child maltreatment has led to greater emphasis on its prevention. Promising maltreatment prevention strategies have been identified, but research continues to suffer from methodologi…
Child Maltreatment and Offending Behavior Gender-Specific Effects and Pathways
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2011). This study assessed the association between child maltreatment (ages 0–11) and offending behavior within gender-specific models. Prospectively collected data, including official measures of maltreatment and offending, were derived from the…
Comparing Early Adult Outcomes of Maltreated and Non-Maltreated Children: A Prospective Longitudinal Investigation
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J. (2010). Comparing early adult outcomes of maltreated and non-maltreated children: A prospective longitudinal investigation. Children and Youth Services Review.
Using prospective data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, this investigation examined associations between child maltreatment and an array of outcomes in early adulthood. Findings from bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated that…
Child Maltreatment and Adult Cigarette Smoking: A Long-term Developmental Model
Topitzes, J., Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2009). To examine: (a) child maltreatment’s association with young adult daily cigarette smoking, (b) variations in this association by gender, and (c) mediators of this association. For all study participants (N¼1,125, 94% African American), data fro…
Educational Success and Adult Health: from the Chicago Longitudinal Study
Topitzes, J., Godes, O, Mersky, J.P., Ceglarek, S., Reynolds, A. (2009). Growing evidence indicates that education is associated with health, yet we lack knowledge about the specific educational experiences influencing health trajectories. This study examines the role school factors play in the emergence of…
Risk Factors for Child and Adolescent Maltreatment
Mersky, J.P., Berger, L., Reynolds, A., Gromoske, A. (2009). This study investigates associations between individual, family, and extrafamilial factors and the likelihood of subsequent childhood and adolescent maltreatment. The authors analyzed 1,411 participants in the Chicago Longitudinal Study whose…
Chronic Neglect: Prediction and Prevention
Mersky, J.P., Topitzes, J., Reynolds, A. (2009). In 2006, more than 60% of verified child maltreatment victims in the United States experienced child neglect, exceeding the official rates of all other maltreatment types combined (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 200…
Crafting the Greenbook: Framers Reflect on the Vision, Process, and Lessons Learned
Janczewski, C.E., Dutch, N., Wang, K. (2008). Guided by research and the experiences of judges nationwide, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges made a commitment in 1998 to improve community response to families experiencing domestic violence and child maltreat…
Child Maltreatment and Violent Delinquency: Disentangling Main Effects and Subgroup Effects
Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2007). This study employs data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS) to investigate the relation between child maltreatment and the incidence and frequency of violent delinquency. The authors also examine if effects vary between physically abused…
Predictors of Early Childbearing: Evidence from the Chicago Longitudinal Study
Mersky, J.P., Reynolds, A. (2007). Using prospective data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), we investigated the effects of early childhood and school-age predictors on female childbearing, including participation in the Chicago Child–Parent Center (CPC) Program, and…