Self-Reported Quality of Life of Maltreated Children Who Have Been Reported to Advice and Reporting Centers On Child Abuse and Neglect

Cees Hoefnagels, Sivia Evers, Froukje Snoeren, Cor Meesters*, Francien Lamers-Winkelman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the self-reported quality of life of maltreated children, shortly after submission of a report to an advice and reporting center on child abuse and neglect, and the extent to which child and maltreatment characteristics were associated with quality of life. Methods: Participants were 228 maltreated children aged 5–16 years (M = 9.99; SD = 3.20) and their primary caregiver. Children completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. One-sample t-tests were used to compare the self-reported quality of life of the maltreated children with scores from normative populations. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to explore whether maltreated children’s age, gender and type of maltreatment were associated with their quality of life, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Results: Significant differences were found between the study sample and three different normative populations regarding overall quality of life and the psychosocial health dimension of quality of life, indicating a poorer quality of life and psychosocial health for the maltreated children in this study. In addition, the socio-demographic characteristic of financial problems in the family as reported by the parent(s) was associated with children’s poorer self-reported quality of life. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that child maltreatment is negatively related to self-reported quality of life. Future research should further address the effects of child maltreatment on quality of life after child protection system interventions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)471-481
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Child and Family Studies
Volume29
Issue number2
Early online date11 Oct 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2020

Keywords

  • Adolescents
  • Children
  • Maltreatment
  • Quality of Life
  • Self-report

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