Data from a longitudinal, inner-city community sample were used to examine the prevalenceof child maltreatment in males and to relate this to disruptive and delinquent child behavior. Byage 18 years, almost one fourth of the families had been referred to Children and Youth Services(CYS). Investigation by the CYS resulted in substantiated maltreatment of 10% of theparticipants, mostly for physical abuse and neglect. Almost all maltreatment was perpetrated bypeople living in the same house as the victim. Maltreatment was related to the boys progressingon three pathways in disruptive and delinquent behavior: authority conflict pathway, overtpathway, and covert pathway. Two thirds of the victims showed authority conflict problems, andalmost all of the maltreated boys displayed behaviors characteristic of the overt and covertpathways. Victims, compared to matched controls, were more likely to have engaged in behaviorscharacteristic of the authority conflict and the overt pathways but less strongly engaged inbehaviors associated with the covert pathway. Victims were also more likely than controls to havea referral to juvenile court. Most of the CYS contact tended to precede or co-occur with onset ofovert and covert problem behavior, but about half of the onset of authority conflict behaviorstended to precede contact with CYS.