NCJ Number
231054
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 34 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2010 Pages: 296-304
Date Published
May 2010
Length
9 pages
Annotation
An economic analysis is conducted on child maltreatment (CM) by critiquing national estimates of the economic burden of child maltreatment in the last 20 years.
Abstract
Despite the complexity of developing economic burden estimates and the potential shortcomings, economic analyses are invaluable for highlighting the impact of child maltreatment (CM) on society and guiding policies to improve outcomes. The shortcomings can be categorized in the following way: 1) lack of transparency in inputs used in the estimation procedure, 2) calculation mistakes, and 3) methodological errors. Further exploration is required and recommended in several research areas in order to have credible estimates of the economic impact of CM in the future. Estimating the economic impact of CM in and of itself is important from a policymaker's perspective, which is why there is a plethora of economic burden estimates calculated for any of a number of chronic and acute public health problems of interest. The rationale for estimating economic burden estimates for CM is that they allow researchers, advocates, and policymakers to assess which consequences of CM generate the greatest economic burden, allow one to compare the economic burden of CM to other diseases and injuries that impact children, and allows one to advocate for more resources to prevent CM from ever happening, or for resources to provide the best possible care for victims. Tables and references