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To describe how child maltreatment chronicity is related to negative outcomes in later childhood and early adulthood.

The study included 5994 low-income children from St Louis, including 3521 with child maltreatment reports, who were followed from 1993–1994 through 2009. Children were 1.5 to 11 years of age at sampling. Data include administrative and treatment records indicating substance abuse, mental health treatment, brain injury, sexually transmitted disease, suicide attempts, and violent delinquency before age 18 and child maltreatment perpetration, mental health treatment, or substance abuse in adulthood. Multivariate analysis controlled for potential confounders.

Child maltreatment chronicity predicted negative childhood outcomes in a linear fashion (eg, percentage with at least 1 negative outcome: no …