This study investigated the relationship between child maltreatment and the early onset ofproblem behaviors in the Elmira Nurse Home Visitation Program. Participants werepredominantly low-income and unmarried mothers and their first-born children who wererandomized either to receive over 2 years of home-visitation services by nurses or to be placed ina comparison group. Data were drawn from a follow-up study that took place when the childrenwere 15 years of age. Results demonstrated that, in the comparison group, child maltreatment wasassociated with significant increases in the number of early onset problem behaviors reported bythe youth. For the youth in the nurse-visited group there was no relationship betweenmaltreatment and early onset problem behaviors. We suggest that this finding was due to theeffects of the intervention in reducing the number as well as the developmental timing of themaltreatment incidents. Results suggest that prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses canmoderate the risk of child maltreatment as a predictor of conduct problems and antisocialbehavior among children and youth born into at-risk families.