Childhood maltreatment, social connectedness, and depression: A prospective analysis of trajectories over time.

Childhood maltreatment is associated with a range of negative social and psychological outcomes at different developmental stages. Using data from a prospective longitudinal study of the consequences of childhood maltreatment, we examine whether childhood maltreatment predicts lower levels of social connectedness and more depression symptoms over a 30-year time period and examine the directionality of the trajectories from childhood into middle adulthood. Children (ages 0-11 years) with documented histories of maltreatment and demographically matched controls were followed into adulthood across four waves: 1989-1995 (