Child abuse-related homicides precipitated by caregiver use of harsh physical punishment

Physical punishment (PP), which may involve the use of physical force, has been linked to negative effects in children and can escalate to abusive or harsh PP, resulting in injury or death.

To examine characteristics associated with fatal abuse involving caregiver use of harsh PP.

Data were from the National Violent Death Reporting System in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for years 2012-2018. Qualitative analysis was used to code textual material into categorial data, and logistic regression was used to examine associations between various characteristics and harsh PP.

Approximately 4 % (n = 87) of the 2414 abuse-related homicides were known to have been precipitated by caregiver use of harsh PP. In adjusted models, homicides had greater odds of being harsh PP-related when incidents involved mothers' male companions (versus fathers), victims had a previous nonfatal injury (versus no previous nonfatal injury), and another adult participated in the fatal incident or had awareness of prior abuse/neglect (versus those without this characteristic). Two common precipitators of caregivers' use of harsh PP were: 1) child had a bathroom-related accident/soiled clothes (23.0 %; n = 20), and 2) child disobeyed a directive given by the perpetrator (17.2 %; n = 15).

This study highlights characteristics associated with fatal abuse precipitated by caregiver use of harsh PP. Children were physically punished for developmentally normative behaviors. Ensuring caregivers are aware of and use effective parenting practices that focus on use of nonphysical discipline and promote healthy child development, may help decrease harsh PP and physical abuse-related homicides among children.