Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 4, 2025
Rapid Fractionation and Isolation of Whole Blood Components in Samples Obtained from a Community-based Setting
Published on: November 30, 2015
Community disadvantage, family socioeconomic status, and racial/ethnic differences in maltreatment reporting risk
Emily Putnam-Hornstein1, John J Prindle2, Rebecca Rebbe2
1School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America; Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California, United States of America.
Insights
Racial disparities exist in child maltreatment reporting. Privately insured Black infants face higher reporting rates, while publicly insured Black and Hispanic infants do not, indicating complex socioeconomic and racial influences on child protection system involvement.
Area of Science:
- Child welfare research
- Public health
- Sociology
Background:
- Infant maltreatment reporting rates show persistent racial/ethnic disparities.
- Child protection system (CPS) involvement during infancy is a significant public health concern.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze how race/ethnicity and community disadvantage impact CPS reporting for infants.
- To identify factors contributing to racial/ethnic disparities in child maltreatment investigations.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a population-based dataset of over 1.2 million California births (2012-2014).
- Linked birth records with CPS administrative data and community disadvantage measures (American Community Survey).
- Employed modified Poisson regression to assess reporting likelihood by race/ethnicity across disadvantage levels, adjusting for covariates.
Main Results:
- Infants in highly disadvantaged neighborhoods were reported at 7x the rate of those in advantaged areas.
- Publicly insured Black and Hispanic infants had lower or equivalent reporting rates compared to White infants.
- Privately insured Black infants showed higher reporting rates than White infants, irrespective of neighborhood disadvantage.
Conclusions:
- Socioeconomic factors and race/ethnicity interact complexly in CPS reporting.
- Disparities in reporting for privately insured Black infants warrant further investigation into potential disparate treatment.
- Publicly insured infants did not exhibit similar reporting disparities, suggesting insurance status is a key differentiator.
Background:
Children are reported for maltreatment during infancy at elevated rates; research has established persistent racial/ethnic differences in the likelihood of reporting to the child protection system (CPS).
Objective:
To model the influence of race/ethnicity and community disadvantage in CPS reporting during infancy.
Participants/Setting:
A population-based dataset consisting of more than 1.2 million children born in California between 2012 and 2014. Vital birth records were probabilistically linked to administrative CPS records. American Community Survey data were used to measure community disadvantage.
Methods:
For each child, we coded sociodemographic information from the birth record, assigned the child to a community using their residential address at birth, and captured maltreatment reports from child protection records. We employed a modified Poisson regression model to examine an infant's likelihood of being reported to CPS by race/ethnicity across levels of community disadvantage and after adjusting for individual-level covariates.
Results:
Infants born in neighborhoods with the most concentrated disadvantage were reported to CPS at 7 times the rate of children born in the most advantaged neighborhoods (12.3% vs. 1.8%). After adjusting for individual-level covariates, we found that both Black and Hispanic infants born on public insurance were significantly less likely than White infants to be reported for maltreatment overall - and Black and Hispanic infants had a statistically equivalent or lower likelihood of reporting at the two extremes of neighborhood disadvantage. Among privately insured families, Hispanic infants continued to have a lower likelihood of reporting, but Black infants were reported at higher rates than White infants. This Black-White difference persisted in the most advantaged neighborhoods, but disappeared in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Conclusions:
Capturing individual-level differences in socioeconomic status and associated risk factors is critical to understanding sources of racial/ethnic differences in CPS reporting, including when there is unwarranted variation or disparate treatment. Our findings suggest an elevated likelihood of maltreatment reporting among privately insured Black infants not explained by differences in observed risk or neighborhood, but no such differences were documented for Black or Hispanic infants on public insurance.
More Related Videos
04:20Author Spotlight: Exploring Microglial Interactions with Stress-Response Circuitry Using the Limited Bedding and Nesting Model
Published on: July 12, 2024
05:04A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect
Published on: September 22, 2023
Related Concept Videos
01:30Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
01:29Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
01:28Conduct Disorder
01:28Relationship with Parents: Attachment
01:29Relationship with Other Adult Family Members and Siblings
01:20Attachment