AIM: he aim of thisstudy was to examine the overlap between child maltreatment types and theirassociation with quality of life amongschool children.
METHODS: A national cross-sectional study of 3,202 grade nine Swedish pupils of 15-years-of-agewas carried out in 2011 with an 84% response rate.Data were analysed usingPearson chi-squareandmultiple linear regression analyses.
RESULTS: Of the total sample, 650 children (20%) reported at least one type of maltreatment.There was a large degree of overlap between maltreatment types.In particular,neglect and witnessing intimate partner violence overlapped with most other types of maltreatment.There was a significant relationship between the degree of abuse and multi-type maltreatment.
RESULTS showeda linear relationship between the number of types ofmaltreatment and quality of life (p<0.001), indicating a dose-response relationship.
CONCLUSION: The results emphasise the negative impact of child maltreatment on children's lives and highlight the importance of taking the broad spectrum of child maltreatment into account in both research and practice. A more comprehensive assessment of the width of maltreatment among professionals may help to identify the most seriously maltreated children and lead to an improved ability to target intervention and prevention atthese children. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.