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"Cinderella effects" in lethal child abuse are genuine and large: A comment on Nobes et al. (2019)
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University.
Abstract:
Nobes et al. (2019) combined novel analyses of homicide victimization of British preschool children with a critique of previous research reporting large Cinderella effects (excess risk to stepchildren) in this domain. Whereas Nobes and colleagues' empirical contribution is useful, the critique contains factual errors and misrepresentations of the literature in support of their conclusion that the magnitude of such effects has been greatly exaggerated. It has not, as I show by addressing Nobes et al.'s many misstatements and reviewing relevant literature that they ignored. Fatal baby batterings, in particular, have been found to exhibit Cinderella effects on the order of 100-fold or more in many studies in several countries, including Britain. Nobes et al.'s efforts to deny this reality are misguided. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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