Failing to care properly for a young child can be as damaging as physically or sexually abusing them, when it comes triggering aggression in later childhood.
Past studies have hinted that early neglect may contribute to aggression later on, but it has been difficult to disentangle this effect from that of physical or sexual abuse. To do so, Howard Dubowitz at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and his colleagues studied 1318 children from birth to age 8. Records from the child protection service were taken to indicate how children had been treated during their first…
