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1.
This report reviews research on the community dimensions of child maltreatment and presents a study conducted in the United States designed to illuminate further the importance of social environmental effects on family functioning. The study involves 77 community areas within the Chicago, Illinois, metropolitan area. Child maltreatment rates are related to indicators of socioeconomic and demographic well being for these neighborhoods and for the subunits within them. The results reveal a strong influence of socioeconomic and demographic factors on child maltreatment rates. A further analysis involves selecting pairs of neighborhoods for additional study. In this phase of the research the character of socioeconomically similar areas with contrasting patterns of child maltreatment is revealed. The high-risk areas are characterized by social disorganization and lack of social coherence, in contrast to the low-risk areas which evidence a stronger social fabric. These effects extend to differences in child abuse fatalities.  相似文献   

2.
This study examines how changes in the social and economic structure of neighborhoods relate to changes in child maltreatment report rates over an extended period. The panel study design allows us to partition the changes in child maltreatment report rates into a portion associated with how the levels of socio-economic risk factors have changed over time, and a portion related to how the relative importance of those factors in explaining maltreatment report rates has changed over time. Through the application of fixed effects panel models, the analysis is also able to control for unmeasured time-invariant characteristics of neighborhoods that may be a source of bias in cross-sectional studies. The study finds that increases in vacant housing, single parent families and unemployment rates are strongly associated with increases in child maltreatment report rates. Changes in racial/ethnic composition did not produce changes in maltreatment report rates except when they reached extreme levels of segregation. Although poverty rates were predictive of cross-sectional variation in child maltreatment, increases in neighborhood poverty became less associated with increases in child maltreatment report rates over time.  相似文献   

3.
OBJECTIVE: To better understand how neighborhood and individual factors are related to child maltreatment. METHOD: Using an ecological framework, a multi-level model (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) was used to analyze neighborhood structural conditions and individual risk factors for child abuse and neglect. Parents (n = 400) of children under the age of 18 were systematically selected from 20 randomly selected census-defined block groups with different risk profiles for child maltreatment report rates. Parents were administered the Neighborhood Environment for Children Rating Scales, the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Zimet measure of social support, and the Conflict Tactics Scales as a measure of childhood experience with violence. RESULTS: Neighborhood factors of impoverishment and child care burden significantly affect child abuse potential after controlling for individual risk factors. However, neighborhood effects are weaker than they appear to be in aggregate studies of official child maltreatment reports. Variation in child abuse potential within neighborhoods is greater than between neighborhoods. However, adverse neighborhood conditions weakend the effects of known individual risk and protective factors, such as violence in the family of origin. CONCLUSIONS: If individual potential for child maltreatment is more evenly distributed across neighborhoods than reported maltreatment, then neighborhood and community play an important, if as yet unspecified, role in child maltreatment. Multi-level models are a promising research strategy for disentangling the complex interactions of individual and contextual factors in child maltreatment.  相似文献   

4.
ObjectivePast studies demonstrate a relationship between race and the likelihood of children entering state custody subsequent to a maltreatment investigation. Research also shows that community structural characteristics such as poverty and residential mobility are correlated with entry rates. The combined effect, however, of race and community characteristics on substitute care entry is unclear. We analyzed 3 years of Illinois child welfare administrative and county-level structural data to assess the combined effect of child characteristics and level of community organization on substitute care entry.MethodsBased on county indicators of crime, socioeconomic status, residential mobility, and child care burden, a latent profile analysis classified Illinois counties into three levels of social organization (high, moderate, and low). To test the relationship between community and child level predictors of substitute care entry, a dichotomous variable representing substitute care entry was regressed onto county level and individual covariates (child age, race or ethnicity, gender, and allegation). To test the combined relationship of community and individual level characteristics, interactions between county level of organization and race were explored.ResultsLike previous studies, results showed that individual factors of race, age, and allegation were associated with the decision to place children in substitute care. Also consistent with past research, they revealed a general trend in which decreasing levels of social organization were associated with relatively higher odds of entry to care. The magnitude of this effect at each level of social organization, however, varied by race, with African American children in disorganized communities experiencing the greatest risk of removal.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that efforts to understand the decision to place a child in substitute care may need to be community specific. In particular the level of community organization may influence the response of the system to maltreatment investigations. In communities with different characteristics and across racial groups, child welfare systems may need to examine decision making processes regarding children's removal from parental care.  相似文献   

5.
OBJECTIVE: To better understand how neighborhood and individual factors are related to child maltreatment. METHOD: Using an ecological framework, a multi-level model (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) was used to analyze neighborhood structural conditions and individual risk factors for child abuse and neglect. Parents (n = 400) of children under the age of 18 were systematically selected from 20 randomly selected census-defined block groups with different risk profiles for child maltreatment report rates. Parents were administered the Neighborhood Environment for Children Rating Scales, the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Zimet measure of social support, and the Conflict Tactics Scales as a measure of childhood experience with violence. RESULTS: Neighborhood factors of improverishment and child care burden significantly affect child abuse potential after controlling for individual risk factors. However, neighborhood effects are weaker than they appear to be in aggregate studies of official child maltreatment reports. Variation in child abuse potential within neighborhoods is greater than between neighborhoods. However, adverse neighborhood conditions weakened the effects of known individual risk and protective factors, such as violence in the family of origin. CONCLUSIONS: If individual potential for child maltreatment is more evenly distributed across neighborhoods than reported maltreatment, then neighborhood and community play an important, if as yet unspecified, role in child maltreatment. Multi-level models are a promising research strategy for disentangling the complex interactions of individual and contextual factors in child maltreatment.  相似文献   

6.
7.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to: (1) illustrate the application of life table methodology to child abuse and neglect report data and (2) demonstrate the use of indicators derived from the life tables for monitoring the risk of child maltreatment within a community. METHOD: Computerized records of child maltreatment reports from a large, urban county in Ohio are cumulated for 11 years and linked for each child. Life table methods are used to estimate the probability that children from birth to age 10 will be reported victims of maltreatment by age, race, and urban or suburban residence. RESULTS: Using life tables, the estimates in the county of this study are that 33.4% of African American children and 11.8% of White children will appear in substantiated or indicated child abuse or neglect report(s) by their 10th birthday. The age-specific probability of a maltreatment report is highest in the first year of life for both groups. The probability of a child being reported for a substantiated or indicated incident of maltreatment before his or her 10th birthday is more than three times higher for city dwellers than for suburbanites in the urban county studied here. CONCLUSIONS: Life table methodology is useful for creating child well-being indicators for communities. Such indicators reveal that a larger portion of the child population is affected by maltreatment reports than would be concluded from examining cross-sectional rates and can be used to identify racial or geographic disparities.  相似文献   

8.
Neighborhood views on the definition and etiology of child maltreatment   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study, as part of a larger study on neighborhoods and child maltreatment, was to determine how parents residing in neighborhoods with differing profiles of risk for child maltreatment reports defined child abuse and neglect and viewed its etiology. METHOD: Parents (n = 400) were systematically selected from neighborhoods (n=20) with different profiles of risk for child maltreatment report rates. As part of a larger interview, parents were asked to generate lists of behaviors that they would define as child abuse and neglect and to rate 13 etiological factors on a 10 point scale as to their contribution to the occurrence of child maltreatment. RESULTS: While there were differences in definitional emphases, with African-American parents including behaviors of neglect and European-American parents including behaviors of physical abuse, there was marked congruence on the catalogue of behaviors that parents would define as child abuse and neglect. Four factors were identified that explained almost two-thirds of the variance in parents' etiological explanations: poverty and family disruption, substance abuse and stress; lack of moral and family values; and individual pathology. These factors were related to neighborhood conditions, individual perceptions of neighborhood and individual characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Community-based programs aimed at preventing or ameliorating child maltreatment must have at their very core an understanding of how populations being served define child maltreatment and why they believe that it occurs.  相似文献   

9.
Child poverty is well known as a major risk factor for child maltreatment. However, it is not known whether parental psychological distress and individual-level social capital mediate the association. We examined the mediation effect of these two factors on the association between child poverty and maltreatment. In the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) Study, a questionnaire was administered to all caregivers of first-grade children in every public elementary school in Adachi City between July and November 2015, and valid responses were used for analysis (N = 3944). Logistic and Poisson regression analyses were employed to examine the association between child poverty and maltreatment. Child poverty was defined in this study as meeting one of these criteria: 1) household income less than 3 million yen; 2) deprivation of specific material items that children or the household requires, or 3) experience of being unable to pay for lifeline utilities. Child maltreatment (physical abuse, neglect, and psychological abuse) was answered by parents. We confirmed a robust association between child poverty and maltreatment. Mediation analysis indicated that parental psychological distress mediated more than 60% of the association between child poverty on physical abuse and psychological abuse, while individual-level social capital mediated only 10% of the association with any type of maltreatment. In addition, structural equation modeling analysis revealed that the association was mediated by both parental psychological distress and social capital simultaneously. The findings suggest that supporting parental psychological distress may be an effective intervention to remedy the negative impact of child poverty on maltreatment.  相似文献   

10.
This study expands research on the relationship between community (defined here as a locality) characteristics and child maltreatment. Research in this field is not new, but it is scarce. Our study is unique by examining changes between two periods rather than focusing on one point in time. Furthermore, our study examines structural conditions in small and medium size localities in Israel, a non-Western and non-Christian society. We compare our results with those from studies on inner-city and suburban neighborhoods in Western countries and earlier studies in Israel. We collected data on 169 Israeli localities, ranging from small ones (with as few as 1,500 residents) to medium size localities (i.e., towns) (with as many as 50,000 residents) in which approximately 34% of the Israeli child population resides. Our study tested four hypotheses: (1) Socioeconomic characteristics of the locality will be negatively correlated with the availability of social services; (2) Reported child maltreatment rates will be negatively correlated with the socioeconomic characteristics of the locality; (3) The availability of social services will be positively correlated with reported child maltreatment rates; and (4) Overall reported child maltreatment rates will be negatively correlated with the overall status of the localities. We have supported our second and third hypothesis in full, and partially supported our first and fourth hypothesis. In particular we have demonstrated that while demographics play a different role in Israel than in other countries in regard to child maltreatment, social, economic and cultural context are crucial for understating reported rates of child maltreatment.  相似文献   

11.
In this study of 246 Texas counties, the varying ability of certain community characteristics to predict rates of maltreatment was examined for different ethnic groups. The use of rates based on Central Registry data is based on the assumption that officially registered reports of abuse and neglect are a reasonably valid index of actual child maltreatment. The results provide support for socioeconomic and demographic factors investigated by previous ecological researchers. In general, the greater the proportions of single mothers and working mothers in a community, the greater its rate of maltreatment; the greater the proportion of families with annual incomes over $15,000, the lower the county maltreatment rate. Differential patterns were observed for various predictors for rates of abuse and neglect considered separately. Greater economic resources availability was significantly related to lower county rates of neglect, but not significantly related to abuse rates. Higher abuse rates were significantly associated with greater proportions of single mothers, while higher neglect rates were significantly associated with greater proportions of absent mothers due to employment. Smaller amounts of formal economic assistance to single-parent families (AFDC) significantly enhanced the prediction of counties at risk for higher rates of child abuse. Differential patterns of results were observed for Anglo, Black, and Mexican-American segments of county populations. Socioeconomic status of counties was a significant predictor of Anglo rates; greater urbanization was a significant predictor of increased rates of both Black and Mexican-American maltreatment. These results support the use of indicators of the availability of economic and social resources for identifying high-risk communities and planning preventive interventions for child maltreatment.  相似文献   

12.
OBJECTIVE: This study examines how the availability of alcohol and illicit drugs (as measured by alcohol outlet density and police incidents of drug sales and possessions) is related to neighborhood rates of child abuse and neglect, controlling for other neighborhood demographic characteristics. METHOD: Data from substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect in 304 block groups in a northern California city were analyzed using spatial regression techniques. RESULTS: This study found that higher concentration of bars (B=6.66, p<.05) and higher numbers of incidents of drug possession (B=.53, p<.001) were positively related to rates of child maltreatment in neighborhoods when controlling for neighborhood demographic characteristics. Thus, areas with more bars and drug possession incidents per 1000 population have higher rates of child maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of more bars per population may represent a lack of resources available to residents, may increase the stress on neighborhoods by "attracting" populations prone to participating in dangerous activities, or increase the frequency of alcohol use that then leads to maltreatment. Areas with more drug possession incidents may also contribute to the overall level of neighborhood stress and disorganization or act as a marker for drug use that leads to maltreatment. These results suggest that the neighborhood substance availability may deserve special attention when developing preventive interventions to reduce child abuse and neglect in neighborhood areas.  相似文献   

13.
OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on the relationships between neighborhoods and child maltreatment and identify future directions for research in this area. METHOD: A search of electronic databases and a survey of experts yielded a list of 25 studies on the influence of geographically defined neighborhoods on child maltreatment. These studies were then critically reviewed by an interdisciplinary research team. RESULTS: Numerous studies demonstrate that child maltreatment cases are concentrated in disadvantaged areas. A number of socio-economic characteristics of neighborhoods have been shown to correlate with child maltreatment rates as measured by official reports to child protective service agencies. Only a few studies examine direct measures of parenting behaviors associated with maltreatment, and these show a weaker relationship with neighborhood disadvantage. Moreover, the processes that link neighborhood conditions to either maltreatment reports or parenting behaviors are not yet confirmed by the research literature. Selection bias, neighborhood definitions and spatial influences are largely uncontrolled in the existing research. CONCLUSIONS: We propose a framework for pursuing further study of neighborhoods and child maltreatment that addresses the gaps in the current literature. Neighborhood-based strategies to prevent and reduce child maltreatment will be enhanced by research that provides a better understanding of how neighborhood conditions act as stressors or supports for families at risk of child maltreatment.  相似文献   

14.
Policies can be powerful tools for prevention given their potential to affect conditions that can improve population-level health. Given the dearth of empirical research on policies’ impacts on child maltreatment, this article (a) identifies 37 state policies that might have impacts on the social determinants of child maltreatment; (b) identifies available data sources documenting the implementation of 31 policies; and (c) utilizes the available data to explore effects of 11 policies (selected because they had little missing data) on child maltreatment rates. These include two policies aimed at reducing poverty, two temporary assistance to needy families policies, two policies aimed at increasing access to child care, three policies aimed at increasing access to high quality pre-K, and three policies aimed at increasing access to health care. Multi-level regression analyses between within-state trends of child maltreatment investigation rates and these 11 policies, controlling for states’ childhood poverty, adults without a high school diploma, unemployment, child burden, and race/ethnicity, identified two that were significantly associated with decreased child maltreatment rates: lack of waitlists to access subsidized child care and policies that facilitate continuity of child health care. These findings are correlational and are limited by the quality and availability of the data. Future research might focus on a reduced number of states that have good quality administrative data or population-based survey data on child maltreatment or reasonable proxies for child maltreatment and where data on the actual implementation of specific policies of interest can be documented.  相似文献   

15.
This study investigates the relationship between concentrations of on- and off-premises alcohol outlets and rates of child abuse and neglect. Additionally, the study seeks to locate protective features of a neighborhood's built environment by investigating the potentially moderating role that access to substance abuse treatment and prevention services plays in the relationship between alcohol outlet density and child maltreatment. Using a cross-sectional design, this ecological study utilized data from 163 census tracts in Bergen County, New Jersey, on reports of child abuse and neglect, alcohol outlets, substance abuse treatment and prevention facilities, and the United States Census to investigate the linkages between socioeconomic structure, alcohol availability, and access to substance abuse service facilities on rates of child abuse and neglect. Findings indicate areas with a greater concentration of on-premises alcohol outlets (i.e., bars) had higher rates of child neglect, and those with easier access to substance abuse services had lower rates of neglect, controlling for neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic structure. Additionally, the relationship between on-premises alcohol outlet density and rates of child neglect was moderated by the presence of substance abuse service facilities. A greater concentration of off-premises outlets (i.e., liquor stores) was associated with lower rates of physical abuse. Findings suggest that the built environment and socioeconomic structure of neighborhoods have important consequences for child well-being. The implications for future research on the structural features of neighborhoods that are associated with child well-being are discussed.  相似文献   

16.
OBJECTIVE: The main objective was to know social representations about child maltreatment (severity, etiology, and intervention strategies) of the general population and the professionals working with children in the Caribbean area of Colombia. METHOD: Sample was composed for 402 participants. From this pool of participants, 111 of them were working in child protection, 95 worked with children but not in the child protection system and 196 pertained to the general population. All participants answered to a questionnaire composed by 86 items. The questionnaire was developed to assess (1) the perceived severity of different typologies of child abuse, (2) opinions about risk factors for child maltreatment and sexual abuse, and (3) opinions about the most adequate ways of intervention with perpetrator of child abuse. RESULTS: Sexual abuse is considered as the most severe typology of child maltreatment and emotional abuse is considered as more severe than physical abuse. No differences between groups were found in perceived severity of typologies of child maltreatment. Differences in the social representation about the etiology of child maltreatment were found. Professionals working in the child protection system give more value to characteristics of parents and to the socio-economic and familiar environment in the etiology of child maltreatment than participants from the general population. Prevention and treatment programs for abusers were considered as the more relevant strategies against child maltreatment. DISCUSSION: Findings of present study suggest that social representations about child maltreatment of general population and professionals from the Caribbean area of Colombia are similar than social representation observed in other regions and countries. It is important to take into account that child labor and child poverty were considered as non-severe typologies of child maltreatment. Moreover, findings suggest that people from general population in the Caribbean area of Colombia have a relevant knowledge about agencies working for child protection.  相似文献   

17.
In 1993, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect recommended a neighborhood-based strategy to prevent child abuse and neglect. The Board further recommended the development of Prevention Zones to allow for testing of the effectiveness of community-wide child protection efforts in neighborhoods of differing population density, ethnic and cultural composition, and social and economic resources. Following the Board's recommendation, this article presents the results of a trial of the effectiveness of a neighborhood-based strategy in low- and high-resource communities. Using management, survey, and administrative data, the research showed that both community types experienced declines in founded cases of and injuries suggesting child maltreatment for children under age 5. Low-resource communities experienced greater levels of mobilization, as measured by community and institutional engagement, and a greater number of positive outcomes related to changes in the quality of life for families and community norms relative to child and family well-being. In particular, the low-resource communities experienced the largest increases in receiving help from neighbors, neighboring, perceived household safety for neighborhood children, and observed positive parenting. High-resource communities experienced greater increases in intermediate outcomes related to self-reported parenting practices. The findings suggest that, ultimately, community mobilization can occur and be an effective means of preventing child maltreatment across community types. It appears, however, that community mobilization may play a more significant role in low-resource communities.  相似文献   

18.
The news media plays a vital role in providing child protection information and resources, shaping the public’s understanding and perceptions of child maltreatment, and exposing system failures and setting policy agendas. To date, little is known about how child maltreatment is portrayed in the media in societies where these issues remain largely hidden and under-recognized. The purpose of the present study was to systematically examine newspaper coverage on child abuse and neglect in Hong Kong in order to assess how child maltreatment is currently presented and framed within public discourse.A total of 579 newspaper reports relevant to child maltreatment from four local newspapers in 2016 were reviewed. Similar to prior findings, cases involving sexual abuse received disproportionately more attention compared with other maltreatment types. The vast majority of news reports focused on specific cases or events, and seldom discussed child maltreatment as a broader social issue. Differences in reporting style and media framing were also compared by newspaper credibility, and for free versus paid newspapers.As a mass communication tool, more guidelines are needed to formulate public messages about child maltreatment that can improve individual, community, and structural capacities to prevent, identify, and respond to children who are victimized by abuse and neglect. This is especially important in jurisdictions where no mandatory reporting framework exists to help identify vulnerable children, and where the majority of child maltreatment is brought to the attention of authorities by families and those living within the child’s community.  相似文献   

19.
Research Findings: Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, this article relates neighborhood characteristics to the type of child care used in families with toddlers and preschoolers (N = 1,121; representative of children in Chicago in 1996–1998). Neighborhood structural disadvantage was assessed via U.S. Census data, and neighborhood processes (i.e., density of social networks, collective efficacy, and level of participation in neighborhood organizations) were accessed with a community survey. Child care decisions (i.e., whether they chose care in centers; child care homes by non-relative, by relatives, and exclusively by parents) and the quality of center child care (Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale–Revised) were assessed in a longitudinal sample. After controlling for family characteristics, various neighborhood characteristics were related to child care characteristics. In communities with denser social networks, children were less likely to experience care in child care homes by unrelated adults. Children were more likely to be in child care homes and less likely to cared for by parents exclusively or by relatives when collective efficacy was higher. Center care quality was lower in disadvantaged neighborhoods and higher for publicly funded programs. Further, neighborhood structural disadvantage was more negatively related to quality when mothers had less education. Practice or Policy: These findings provide further evidence that public programs such as Head Start and public pre-kindergarten programs may be especially important to ensure that children living in poverty in disadvantaged neighborhoods have access to the types of child care that promote school readiness.  相似文献   

20.
The present study examines the association between neighborhood characteristics and the development of 5- and 6-year-olds. We also explore how region might moderate the effects of neighborhoods on children, thus considering both larger (regional) and smaller (community) contexts of families. We find that structural aspects of the neighborhood at the census tract level are associated with child development in the early school-age period. For the sample as a whole, neighborhood factors play a role in both cognitive and socioemotional outcomes, even when family factors are controlled. Yet only modest support for neighborhood influences on child development is evident in our main effects models. It appears that neighborhood influences on child development are underestimated or masked unless the associations are examined separately by two areas of the United States: the Midwest and Northeast versus the South and West. Significant associations between neighborhood variables and children's development are seen in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions, but less so in the Southern and Western regions of the United States. Greater economic and social resources as measured by average neighborhood SES (income, education, occupation) and greater ethnic congruity as measured by more neighbors of the same racial heritage as the child are related to higher cognitive functioning, but only in the Northeast and Midwest. Furthermore, children in these regions show more competent behavioral functioning when the relative presence of adults to children in the neighborhood is higher. In these regions, African-American but not white children show higher levels of behavior problems when community male joblessness rates are higher. We speculate about processes that might underlie these neighborhood and regional effects and point to directions for further research.  相似文献   

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