Economic predictors of child maltreatment in an Australian population-based birth cohort

• Published in: Children and youth services review 2017-01, Vol.72, p.14-25
• Main Authors: Doidge, James C, Higgins, Daryl J, Delfabbro, Paul, Edwards, Ben, Vassallo, Suzanne, Toumbourou, John W, Segal, Leonie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abused children; Associations; Child abuse & neglect; Child abuse and neglect; Child maltreatment; Child poverty; Child sexual abuse; Childbirth & labor; Childhood; Children; Correlation analysis; Demography; Domestic violence; Economic factors; Elementary education; Emotional abuse; Housing; Mental health; Parents & parenting; Perceptions; Poverty; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Sexual abuse; Social determinants; Sociodemographics; Socioeconomic disadvantage; Socioeconomic factors; Substance abuse; Temperament; Unemployment
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.10.012

A correlation between socioeconomic disadvantage and child maltreatment has long been observed, but the drivers of this association are poorly understood. We sought to estimate the effects of economic factors on risk of child maltreatment after adjusting for other known influences using the Australian Temperament Project, a population-based birth cohort of 2443 individuals and their parents. We used logistic regression to estimate associations of childhood economic factors (parental education, occupation, and unemployment; type of housing; and retrospective perception of poverty) with retrospective reports of perceived child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and witnessing of domestic violence), controlling for demographic factors, parental mental health and substance use, and child health. We then used these estimates to approximate the proportions of child maltreatment—population attributable fractions—that are theoretically preventable by addressing childhood economic disadvantage. Economic factors were associated with all types of child maltreatment. For the most part, these associations diminished only partially when controlling for noneconomic confounders, supporting hypotheses of causal relationships. Jointly, economic factors were significant predictors of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing of domestic violence but not of emotional abuse or neglect. Retrospective perceptions of childhood poverty were, in particular, strongly associated with most forms of child maltreatment but not with sexual abuse after accounting for other economic factors. We estimated that 27% of all child maltreatment was jointly attributable to economic factors. These findings suggest that strategies that reduce economic disadvantage are likely to hold significant potential to reduce the prevalence of child maltreatment. •Economic factors independently predicted all forms of child maltreatment.•Poverty and parental unemployment were the strongest determinants of maltreatment.•An estimated 27.3% of child maltreatment was attributable to economic factors.•Physical abuse, sexual abuse, and exposure to domestic violence were most sensitive.