Understanding the link between child maltreatment and adolescent future expectations in Northern Uganda: A serial mediation analysis

Recent research has identified high levels of child maltreatment and harsh parenting in post-war societies which have had detrimental effects on children's development. Future expectations are an important aspect of adolescents' development particularly in the challenging contexts of post-war societies where social instabilities and violence are prevalent. To date, however, the link between child maltreatment and adolescent future expectations remains understudied. By applying a socio-ecological perspective, this study aimed to investigate risk (internalizing symptoms) and protective factors (community integration) linking experiences of harsh parenting with adolescents' future expectations. Data was collected from N = 199 northern Ugandan adolescents (40.2 % females, Mage = 14.56 years) with structured interviews. Serial mediation analyses were calculated with child maltreatment as the predictor, future expectations as the outcome, and internalizing symptoms as well as community integration as mediating variables. Results of the mediation model (R2 = .22, F(5193) = 10.54, p