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Although a great body of research has demonstrated the impact of child maltreatment on adolescent developmental problems including substance use, sexual risk behaviors, and behavior problems (i.e., internalizing and externalizing), relatively few studies have examined peer relationships within the context of child maltreatment. Previous studies that examined peer relationships have used diverse concepts of peer relationships, such as peer dynamics, peer popularity, and peer characteristics. However, these studies relied on each component of peer relationship separately, which limited their ability to explain the complexity of peer relationships. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation is to investigate 1) underlying patterns of peer relationships based on peer dynamics, peer popularity, and peer characteristics; 2) whether the patterns of peer relationships differ by type of child maltreatment (i.e., physical, emotional, or sexual abuse or neglect, as well as co-occurrence of maltreatment); and 3) the association between peer relationship patterns and adolescent risk behaviors (i.e., substance use, sexual risk behaviors, and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems) by gender. To understand these associations in a high-risk sample (i.e., youths at risk of maltreatment), this study used secondary data derived from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). A total of 659 (79.3% of data at age 16) at-risk youth who reported the main study variables at age 12, 14, and 16 were included for this dissertation. To examine the three research questions, a series of analyses were performed: latent class analysis, multinomial logistic regression, ordinary least-square or logistic regression. This study identified 4 distinct patterns of peer relationships: 1) Friendly, with prosocial peer groups (10.2%); 2) Socially ignored, with prosocial peer groups (55.2%); 3) Severely antisocial peer groups (6.8%); and 4) Moderately antisocial peer groups (27.8%). Among all types of child abuse, emotionally abused youth were more likely to be involved in severely antisocial peer groups, compared to other patterns of peer relationships. Additionally, youth in the severely antisocial peer groups were more likely to exhibit adolescent risk behaviors. These findings imply the need for deeper understanding of the role peer characteristics play in adolescent risk behaviors, as well as being aware of the impact of emotional abuse on the likelihood of membership in severely antisocial peer groups. |
