Three measures of childhood maltreatment are from the Wave III interview. The Add Health used a computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) method in all maltreatment questions in order to reflect their sensitive nature. The questions include: (1) sexual abuse— “by the time you started 6th grade, how often had one of your parents or other adult caregivers touched you in a sexual way, forced you to touch him or her in a sexual way, or forced you to have sexual relations?”; (2) physical abuse—“how often had slapped, hit, or kicked you?”; and (3) neglect—“how often had not taken care of your basic needs, such as keeping you clean or providing food or clothing or how often had left you home alone when an adult should have been with you?”. All three childhood maltreatment responses were dichotomized (1 for one or more times, 0 for never). These responses were combined into a eight-category variable measuring maltreatment, categorized as: no maltreatment, neglect only, physical abuse only, sexual abuse only, neglect and physical abuse, neglect and sexual abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse, and all three types. No maltreatment is the reference category.
