Neighborhoods and child maltreatment: a multi-level study

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect 1999-11, Vol.23 (11), p.1019-1040
• Main Authors: Coulton, Claudia J., Korbin, Jill E., Su, Marilyn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Catchment Area (Health); Child; Child Abuse; Child Abuse - diagnosis; Child Abuse - prevention & control; Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data; Child maltreatment; Child Neglect; Child, Preschool; Cleveland, Ohio; Environmental Influences; Factors; Family Characteristics; Family Influence; Family Problems; Female; Humans; Individual Characteristics; Linear Models; Male; Medical sciences; Neighborhood; Neighborhoods; Neighbourhoods; Ohio; Poverty; Predictor Variables; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Residence Characteristics; Risk Factors; Social Environment; Surveys and Questionnaires; USA; Victimology; Violence
• ISSN: 0145-2134; 1873-7757
• DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00076-9

Objective: To better understand how neighborhood and individual factors are related to child maltreatment. Method: Using an ecological framework, a multi-level model (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) was used to analyze neighborhood structural conditions and individual risk factors for child abuse and neglect. Parents ( n = 400) of children under the age of 18 were systematically selected from 20 randomly selected census-defined block groups with different risk profiles for child maltreatment report rates. Parents were administered the Neighborhood Environment for Children Rating Scales, the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Zimet measure of social support, and the Conflict Tactics Scales as a measure of childhood experience with violence. Results: Neighborhood factors of impoverishment and child care burden significantly affect child abuse potential after controlling for individual risk factors. However, neighborhood effects are weaker than they appear to be in aggregate studies of official child maltreatment reports. Variation in child abuse potential within neighborhoods is greater than between neighborhoods. However, adverse neighborhood conditions weakened the effects of known individual risk and protective factors, such as violence in the family of origin. Conclusions: If individual potential for child maltreatment is more evenly distributed across neighborhoods than reported maltreatment, then neighborhood and community play an important, if as yet unspecified, role in child maltreatment. Multi-level models are a promising research strategy for disentangling the complex interactions of individual and contextual factors in child maltreatment. Objectif: Mieux comprendre la relation entre les mauvais traitements d’une part, et les facteurs personnels et du voisinage, d’autre part. Méthode: Les structures du voisinage et les facteurs de risque individuels ont été évalués dans un cadre conceptuel écologique, en se servant d’un instrument à plusieurs dimensions, soit le Hierarchical Linear modeling. On a identifié 400 parents d’enfants de moins de 18 ans, choisis à partir de groupes définis par le recensement. Ces groupes, retenus de façon alétoire pour les fins de l’étude, se caractérisaient par divers profils de risques. On a administré aux parents les instruments suivants: le “Neighbourhood Environment for Children Rating Scale,” le “Child Abuse Potential Inventory,” le “Zimet Measure of Social Support,” et le “Conflict Tactics Scales” pour mesurer les