Widom Cathy Spatz, Li Xuechen, Carpi Anthony
Departments of Psychology, John Jay College, City University of New York, New York, New York.
Departments of Sciences, John Jay College, City University of New York, New York, New York.
Biol Psychiatry Glob Open Sci. 2022 Jul;2(3):301-308. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.04.003. Epub 2022 Apr 28.
Research has shown that maltreated children are at increased risk for subsequent crime and violence and are more likely to reside in neighborhoods with a high likelihood of lead exposure. Other literature has reported associations between childhood lead exposure and antisocial and criminal behavior. Little is known about the relationships among childhood maltreatment, adult lead exposure, and crime and violence.
As part of a prospective longitudinal study of the long-term consequences of childhood maltreatment, children with documented histories of abuse and neglect and demographically matched control children (ages 0-11 years) were followed into adulthood and interviewed. Participants included 556 individuals who had valid blood lead level (BLL) measures at a mean age of 41.2 years. Participants had a mean age of 50.5 (SD = 3.53) years at the time of the last criminal history check used to determine the number of arrests.
Childhood maltreatment predicted a higher number of arrests for any crime and any violence after the blood was collected but not higher BLLs in adulthood. There were significant paths from adult BLLs to arrests after the blood was collected, despite controlling for age, sex, race, and IQ and the inclusion of individual- and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status, and paths from neighborhood socioeconomic status to higher BLLs in models predicting any arrest and any violent arrest after the blood was collected.
These findings demonstrate how environmental toxins such as lead can affect outcomes in adulthood, including crime, and provide evidence that links neighborhood disadvantage to higher BLLs in adulthood.
研究表明，受虐待儿童日后犯罪和暴力的风险增加，且更有可能居住在铅暴露可能性高的社区。其他文献报道了儿童期铅暴露与反社会和犯罪行为之间的关联。关于儿童期虐待、成人铅暴露以及犯罪和暴力之间的关系，人们知之甚少。
作为一项关于儿童期虐待长期后果的前瞻性纵向研究的一部分，对有虐待和忽视记录史的儿童以及人口统计学匹配的对照儿童（0至11岁）进行跟踪直至成年并进行访谈。参与者包括556名个体，他们在平均年龄41.2岁时进行了有效的血铅水平（BLL）测量。在用于确定逮捕次数的最后一次犯罪史检查时，参与者的平均年龄为50.5岁（标准差 = 3.53）。
儿童期虐待预示着采血后任何犯罪和任何暴力行为的逮捕次数会增加，但成年后的血铅水平不会升高。尽管在控制了年龄、性别、种族和智商并纳入了个体和社区层面的社会经济地位后，采血后成人血铅水平与逮捕次数之间仍存在显著关联，并且在预测采血后任何逮捕和任何暴力逮捕的模型中，社区社会经济地位与更高的血铅水平之间也存在关联。
这些发现证明了铅等环境毒素如何影响成年后的结果，包括犯罪，并提供了将社区劣势与成年后更高的血铅水平联系起来的证据。
