{"doi":"10.1093/geront/gnaf132","title":"Causal Mediation Analysis for the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence Reveals Pathways From Child Maltreatment to Elder Mistreatment","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Background and Objectives</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The effects of child maltreatment victimization affect the life-course trajectories of families including increasing risk of engaging in elder mistreatment when assuming a family caregiving role. This study evaluates the social-emotional information process theory as a mechanism that causally connects child maltreatment victimization with later engagement in elder mistreatment in the context of dementia family caregiving.</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Research Design and Methods</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>During a 12-month observational longitudinal study, self-identified family caregivers to persons with dementia (N = 457) were recruited nationally to complete online surveys at enrollment, and 6- and 12-month follow-up. Through a multilevel serial mediation model, we tested the hypothesis that the causal role of past child maltreatment victimization on present-day engagement in elder mistreatment is mediated by cognitive processes (i.e., hostile attribution biases about the care recipient’s behaviors) and emotional processes (i.e., caregivers’ emotion regulation abilities).</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Findings show that child maltreatment has a significant indirect effect on elder mistreatment through hostile attribution bias and emotion dysregulation, and that these mediators fully account for the relationship between child maltreatment history and present-day use of elder mistreatment. The total effect of the mediation model is significant (b = 0.016, SD = 0.004, CI [0.010–0.024], p &amp;lt; .001), and the total variance explained in present-day elder mistreatment is 36%.</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Discussion and Implications</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>A major contribution is the demonstration of modifiable mechanisms for the intergenerational transmission of violence as applied to elder mistreatment. Findings highlight the importance of a life-course view and the consideration of early-life experiences on behavioral aging outcomes.</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>","journal":"The Gerontologist","year":2025,"id":641925,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1255555,"name":"Mustafa Yıldız","orcid":"0000-0002-3139-2698","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1310271,"name":"Wesley Browning","orcid":"0000-0003-3204-9266","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1669314,"name":"Jessica Hernandez Chilatra","orcid":"0000-0002-6011-0709","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":930901,"name":"Maria Yefimova","orcid":"0000-0003-1458-8012","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":755906,"name":"Christopher D. Maxwell","orcid":"0000-0002-4231-3297","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":361410,"name":"Tami P. Sullivan","orcid":"0000-0002-4981-1168","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":930900,"name":"Carolyn Pickering","orcid":"0000-0003-3885-4119","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Causal Mediation Analysis for the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence Reveals Pathways From Child Maltreatment to Elder Mistreatment","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Background and Objectives</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>The effects of child maltreatment victimization affect the life-course trajectories of families including increasing risk of engaging in elder mistreatment when assuming a family caregiving role. This study evaluates the social-emotional information process theory as a mechanism that causally connects child maltreatment victimization with later engagement in elder mistreatment in the context of dementia family caregiving.</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Research Design and Methods</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>During a 12-month observational longitudinal study, self-identified family caregivers to persons with dementia (N = 457) were recruited nationally to complete online surveys at enrollment, and 6- and 12-month follow-up. Through a multilevel serial mediation model, we tested the hypothesis that the causal role of past child maltreatment victimization on present-day engagement in elder mistreatment is mediated by cognitive processes (i.e., hostile attribution biases about the care recipient’s behaviors) and emotional processes (i.e., caregivers’ emotion regulation abilities).</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Findings show that child maltreatment has a significant indirect effect on elder mistreatment through hostile attribution bias and emotion dysregulation, and that these mediators fully account for the relationship between child maltreatment history and present-day use of elder mistreatment. The total effect of the mediation model is significant (b = 0.016, SD = 0.004, CI [0.010–0.024], p &amp;lt; .001), and the total variance explained in present-day elder mistreatment is 36%.</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Discussion and Implications</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>A major contribution is the demonstration of modifiable mechanisms for the intergenerational transmission of violence as applied to elder mistreatment. Findings highlight the importance of a life-course view and the consideration of early-life experiences on behavioral aging outcomes.</jats:p>\n               </jats:sec>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"40244912","pmcid":"PMC12129107","openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"National Institute on Aging","grant_id":"R01AG060083]","title":null},{"funder_name":"NIA NIH HHS","grant_id":"R01 AG060083","title":null}],"total_grants":2,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"hybrid","license":"cc-by-nc-nd","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/geront/gnaf132/62950451/gnaf132.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-pdf/65/6/gnaf132/62950451/gnaf132.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12129107","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12129107","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12129107?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Dementia","Longitudinal Studies","Intergenerational Relations","Child Abuse","Elder Abuse","Aged","Aged, 80 and over","Middle Aged","Child","Caregivers","Female","Male","Mediation Analysis"],"keywords":["Family Violence","Dementia, Family Caregiving","Life-course Gerontology"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-07T20:56:21.855173Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}