NCJ Number
214671
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 30 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 497-522
Date Published
May 2006
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This study explored multiple risk factors for child maltreatment in young children within a comprehensive ecological framework, focusing specifically on parents’ backgrounds, sociodemographic environment, and child and family characteristics.
Abstract
Four risk factors were observed in relation to parents of young children: young age, low education level, a psychiatric history, and a history of child abuse. Poverty emerged as the strongest risk factor for both investigation of child maltreatment and registration of child maltreatment. Other risk factors for child maltreatment included family structure and reported domestic violence. The analysis also suggests that children who are maltreated are different from their nonabused peers in terms of birth weight and in the way they are perceived by their mothers. Parental social support and maternal employment were mediating and slight protective factors. The findings, which point to the myriad of risk factors for child abuse, lend support to comprehensive treatment approaches that take a broad view of the child and the environment within which they are being raised. In terms of policy, prevention efforts should acknowledge the importance of material disadvantage and the interactions between sociodemographic factors and social interactions at the family and community levels. Data were drawn from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a large cohort study of children born to mothers in Avon, United Kingdom between January 1991 and December 1992. All pregnant women in the Avon area during the enrollment period were invited to participate; 14,893 mothers enrolled with their 14,256 children. Data were collected during pregnancy and through the child’s first 3 years. A series of questionnaires measured parental background, socioeconomic environment, family environment, and child characteristics. Data analysis involved the use of hierarchical logistic regression. Figures, tables, references, appendix