Childhood maltreatment predicts poor economic and educational outcomes in the transition to adulthood

Objectives. To test whether childhood maltreatment was a predictor of (1) having low educational qualifications and (2) not being in education, employment, or training among young adults in the United Kingdom today. Methods. Participants were from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative UK cohort of 2232 twins born in 1994 to 1995. Mothers reported on child maltreatment when participants were aged 5, 7, 10, and 12 years. Participants were interviewed about their vocational status at age 18 years. Results. The unadjusted odds of having low educational qualifications or of not being in education, employment, or training at age 18 years were more than 2 times greater for young people with a childhood history of maltreatment versus those without. These associations were reduced after adjustments for individual and family characteristics. Youths who reported having a supportive adult in their lives had better education outcomes than did youths who had less support. Conclusions. Closer collaboration between the child welfare and education systems is warranted to improve vocational outcomes for maltreated youths. (Am J Y oung people who are currently tran-sitioning to adulthood face a challenging labor market and path to financial independence. 1 In the United States, unemployment rates have risen since 2000 for adolescents and young adults. 1,2 European youths face similar challenges. 3 The transition to adulthood is a critical point at which to alter trajectories for youths who are unemployed and have few, if any, educational qualifications. Predicting which young people are at highest risk for not being in education, employment, or training (NEET) is crucial to accurately target preventive services. A childhood history of maltreatment (e.g., abuse or neglect) is 1 such predictor of educational and employment outcomes. 4 Relatively high rates of school dropout and unemployment among young people with histories of maltreatment could reflect a causal process by which abuse and neglect result in cognitive impairments, poor mental health, or physical health problems that impinge on academic achievement and employment prospects. For example, youths who are exposed to abuse and neglect are at risk for emotional, behavioral, and academic problems that are predictive of school dropout and unemployment. 5,6 A second possibility is that the association between childhood maltreatment and adult education and employment outcomes is noncausal. For example, childhood maltreatment co-occurs with other robust risk factors for poor socioeconomic outcomes, namely family-and neighborhood-level poverty. 7 A number of studies have shown that the associations between maltreatment and poor education and employment outcomes become nonsignificant once adjustments are made for individual-and family-level risk factors such as IQ or family socioeconomic background. 8-10 By contrast, other studies have identified unique effects of childhood maltreatment on adult socioeconomic outcomes, even after accounting for co-occurring risk factors. 11 Finally, individuals with court-substantiated records of abuse and neglect who were followed prospectively into middle-adulthood had fewer educational qualifications and lower earnings, were only half as likely to be in a skilled job or to be employed, and were less likely to have assets such as stocks or a vehicle compared with demographically matched controls. 12 The current study is well suited to distinguish between social selection and social causation hypotheses about the relationship between childhood maltreatment and education and employment outcomes during the transition to adulthood. A social causation account posits that maltreatment negatively