The proposed research will investigate the role of chld and maternal competence and social support in mediating the potentially detrimental consequences of abuse on children's psychological and academic functioning. The research design consists of a prospective longitudinal study collecting data at two points in time two years apart. The subject population is composed of a sample of 300 abused children stratified by type of abuse (100 physically abused, 100 neglected, 100 sexually abused) selected from all reports of abuse filed with a regional office of the state agency mandated to receive abuse reports. Each of these three groups will be matched with a group of 100 non-abused children on sex, age, ethnicity, birth order, family composition and socioeconomic status, and place of residence. The 300 nonabused children will be selected from families known to the state agency through day care or foster care programs. The study groups will be between the ages of 6 and 10 and enrolled in school when selected for participation. Tests measuring competence, social support, psychological adjustment, and academic performance will be administered to each child. Tests measuring competence, social support, and depression will be administered to the children's mothers (or mother substitutes). Both mothers and teachers will complete behavior rating scales about the children. Information about each child's school performance and adjustment will be collected from school records. Sociodemographic and abuse experience characteristics of the families will be collected from agency records. Findings from the proposed research have important policy and practive implications for the delivery of services, particularly mental health services, to abused children. The development of appropriate intervention and treatment strategies will benefit from knowledge about perceived competence and social support in abused children and their mothers, and about the role of these factors in abused children's adaptive or maladaptive responses to the experience of abuse.
