Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Thoughts Of Suicidality And Self-Harm In Middle Childhood: Relationship With Child Maltreatment And Maternal Substance Abuse And Depression, Tara Cossel, Natasha Elkovitch, David Hansen

David J. Hansen

Child maltreatment victims are at increased risk for a multitude of symptoms, including: internalizing problems (e.g., depression, anxiety), behavior problems (e.g., aggression) and post-traumatic stress symptoms (Paolucci, Genuis, & Violato, 2001). Not all maltreated children present with the same outcomes, and research consistently demonstrates child abuse does not have an inevitable pattern or a unified presentation of symptoms. Some youth may be asymptomatic following abuse; others display a myriad of symptoms at varying levels of severity (Kendall-Tackett, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993). A small percentage of this group becomes suicidal.

Recent studies have presented accumulating evidence that suicidality and self-harm warrant …