# Adult Relationship Sequelae of Child Abuse and Neglect: Multiple Developmental Cascades > **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · 2024 · $460,546 ## Abstract ABSTRACT: PROJECT 2 Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is a robust risk factor for the development of significant social difficulties in adulthood. However, the predominant use of retrospective measures of broad ill-defined CAN experiences in broader cross-sectional designs that rely on single methods or informants has limited our understanding of the associations among specific dimensions of CAN and characteristics of close relationship experiences in adulthood. Moreover, from a public health perspective, the CAN experiences of historically underrepresented individuals are also substantially underrepresented in the scientific literature in spite of the disproportionate suffering they experience as victims of CAN in the broader context of discrimination, systematic structural inequities, and substantial barriers to health care access. Finally, at a substantive level, studies have yet to systematically delineate the mediating processes and moderating conditions that account for the multiple developmental cascades linking CAN with close relationship sequelae in adulthood. To address these substantial gaps in scientific knowledge, the present application is designed to provide the first test of an integrative process model of the relational vestiges of CAN in adulthood. Specific aims are centered on examining: (1) the selectivity and breadth of prospective associations among CAN dimensions and multiple domains of intimate partner and parent-child relationship qualities; (2) the psychological mechanisms that mediate the adult relational sequelae of CAN; and (3) the multi-level moderating conditions that potentiate or disrupt the mediating cascades linking CAN with close relationship experiences in adulthood. Given the relative lack of research on participants from diverse demographic backgrounds, the proposed application is specifically designed to advance an understanding of the sequelae of CAN in an economically marginalized sample of individuals who predominantly identify as Black or Latinx. Building on the solid base of an integrative conceptual framework and promising preliminary findings, this application will test these aims by following up a sample of 427 28- to 32-year-old adult participants who experienced substantially elevated CAN and participated in data collection during early adolescence (Wave 1: 10-12 years old) and emerging adulthood (Wave 2: 18-20 years old). To overcome the existing methodological limitations in the literature, we capitalize on a multi-method (e.g., observations, surveys, semi-structured interviews, structured interviews, q-sorts), multi-informant (e.g., trained coders, counselors, primary caregivers, friends, peers), and multi-level (i.e., ecological, family, interpersonal, intrapersonal, neurocognitive, neurobiological) measurement battery across three prospective measurement occasions encompassing more than two decades. By identifying the mechanisms and conditions underlying links between CAN and adult relational seq... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10917094 - **Project number:** 5P50HD096698-07 - **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER - **Principal Investigator:** MELISSA L STURGE-APPLE - **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2024 - **Award amount:** $460,546 - **Award type:** 5 - **Project period:** 2018-09-13 → 2028-08-31 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10917094 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10917094, Adult Relationship Sequelae of Child Abuse and Neglect: Multiple Developmental Cascades (5P50HD096698-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10917094. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*