DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND CHILD ABUSE

• NCJ Number: 144926
• Author(s): A J Sedlak
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): 105-85-1702; 105-89-1739
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August 17, 1992.

Annotation

Multiple-factor logistic analyses were performed on data elicited from nationally representative samples concerning children who have been harmed by abuse or neglect.

Abstract

Risk factors were identified for the occurrence of abuse or neglect and the probability that abused or neglected children will receive the attention of child protective services (CPS). The findings showed that children from low- income families and older children were at far greater risk in every category of maltreatment, and that risk was also related to family structure and size, child's sex and ethnicity, and metropolitan status of residential area. Interactions among risk factors were the rule, rather than the exception. Physically neglected low-income children, physically abused children in two-parent households, and physically or sexually abused minority adolescents were less likely to have their maltreatment investigated by CPS. 2 tables, 1 figure, 5 notes, 12 references, and 1 appendix