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Neighborhoods and child maltreatment: a multi-level study
C J Coulton1, J E Korbin, M Su
1Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
Child Abuse & Neglect
|December 22, 1999
Summary
Neighborhood factors like poverty and care burden influence child abuse potential, but individual factors are more significant. Adverse neighborhood conditions can weaken individual risk and protective factors, highlighting community
Area of Science:
- Social epidemiology
- Developmental psychology
- Community health
Background:
- Child maltreatment is a complex issue influenced by both individual and environmental factors.
- Understanding the interplay between neighborhood characteristics and individual risk is crucial for effective prevention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between neighborhood structural conditions and individual risk factors for child abuse and neglect.
- To examine how neighborhood factors modify the impact of individual risk and protective factors on child maltreatment potential.
Main Methods:
- Employed an ecological framework and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to analyze multi-level data.
- Systematically sampled 400 parents from 20 diverse census block groups, assessing neighborhood environment, child abuse potential, social support, and childhood violence exposure.
Main Results:
- Neighborhood impoverishment and child care burden significantly predicted child abuse potential, even after accounting for individual risk factors.
- Individual risk factors demonstrated a stronger influence on child abuse potential than neighborhood factors.
- Adverse neighborhood conditions attenuated the effects of individual risk and protective factors, such as family history of violence.
Conclusions:
- Child abuse potential appears more uniformly distributed across neighborhoods than official reports suggest.
- Neighborhood and community contexts play a significant, though not fully specified, role in child maltreatment.
- Multi-level models offer a valuable approach for dissecting the intricate interactions between individual and contextual determinants of child maltreatment.