In addition to the general risk posed by exposure to violence at home and in the community, specific types of child maltreatment were unique predictors of group trajectory membership. Given that physical abuse and emotional maltreatment are both related to an acute diagnostic presentation in other domains (e.g., Brown et al., 1999), it is possible that exposure to these types of abuse also result in a more acute initial presentation of PTSS. For the Clinical-Improving group, however, symptoms declined into the nonclinical range after several years. It may be that the outward nature of physical abuse allows it to be more quickly recognized and spurs more rapid intervention than does child neglect. This hypothesis is reinforced by the current findings, as those children with a Borderline-Stable presentation were more likely to be neglected, but were also older when a report was first made to CPS, indicating that these forms of silent maltreatment may take longer to identify; therefore placing children at prolonged risk of exposure. Perhaps one of the most striking findings of the current study was that experiences of child neglect were related to a relatively chronic course of PTSS over childhood and into early adolescence. This is essential information because neglect is not specifically cited as a traumatic event in the DSM-5, despite the fact that it is a key element of many other trauma- and stress-related disorders (APA, 2013), a clear threat to children’s physical safety and health, and is related to consistently deleterious patterns of adjustment (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002).