The Library

Child maltreatment in the "children of the nineties" : a cohort study of risk factors

Tools

Sidebotham, Peter and Heron, Jon. (2006) Child maltreatment in the "children of the nineties" : a cohort study of risk factors. Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol.30 (No.5). pp. 497-522. ISSN 0145-2134

Preview

PDF
WRAP_Sidebotham_ecology_final_corrected_table_3.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (306Kb)

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.11.005

Abstract

Aim: To analyze the multiple factors affecting the risk of maltreatment in young children within a comprehensive theoretical framework. Methods: The research is based on a large UK cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Out of 14,256 children participating in the study, 293 were investigated by social services for suspected maltreatment and 115 were placed on local child protection registers prior to their 6th birthday. Data on the children have been obtained from obstetric data and from a series of parental questionnaires administered during pregnancy and the first 3 years of life. Risk factors have been analyzed using an hierarchical approach to logistic regression analysis. Results: In the stepwise hierarchical analysis, young parents, those with low educational achievement, and those with a past psychiatric history or a history of childhood abuse were all more likely to be investigated for maltreatment, or to have a child placed on the child protection register, with odds ratios between 1.86 and 4.96 for registration. Examining strength of effect, the highest risks were found with indicators of deprivation (3.24 for investigation and 11.02 for registration, after adjusting for parental background factors). Poor social networks increased the risk of both investigation (adjusted OR 1.93) and registration (adjusted OR 1.90). Maternal employment seemed to reduce the risk of both outcomes but adjusted odds ratios were no longer significant for registration. After adjusting for higher order confounders, single parents and reordered families were both at higher risk of registration. Reported domestic violence increased the risk of investigation and registration but this was no longer significant after adjusting for higher order variables. Low birthweight children were at higher risk of registration as were those whose parents reported few positive attributes of their babies. Conclusions: This study supports previous research in the field demonstrating that a wide range of factors in the parental background, socio-economic and family environments affect the risk of child maltreatment. By combining factors within a comprehensive ecological framework, we have demonstrated that the strongest risks are from socio-economic deprivation and from factors in the parents' own background and that parental background factors are largely, but not entirely, mediated through their impact on socio-economic factors.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Divisions:	Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Child abuse -- Great Britain, Parent and child -- Great Britain
Journal or Publication Title:	Child Abuse and Neglect
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0145-2134
Official Date:	15 May 2006
Volume:	Vol.30
Number:	No.5
Page Range:	pp. 497-522
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.11.005
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
References:	Altemeier, W. A., O'Connor, S., Vietze, P., Sandler, H., & Sherrod, K. (1984). Prediction of child abuse: a prospective study of feasibility. Child Abuse & Neglect, 8, 393-400. Baldwin, N., & Spencer, N. (1993). Deprivation and child abuse: implications for strategic planning in children's services. Children and Society, 7, 357-375. Belsky, J. (1980). Child maltreatment. An Ecological integration. American Psychologist, 35, 320-335. Belsky, J. (1993). Etiology of child maltreatment: a developmental-ecological analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 413-434. Brayden, R. M., Altemeier, W. A., Tucker, D. D., Dietrich, M. S., & Vietze, P. (1992). Antecedents of child neglect in the first two years of life. Journal of Pediatrics, 120, 426-429. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Brown, J., Cohen, P., Johnson, J. G., & Salzinger, S. (1998). A longitudinal analysis of risk factors for child maltreatment: Findings of a 17-year prospective study of officially recorded and self-reported child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 1065-1078. Browne, K., & Saqi, S. (1988). Approaches to screening for child abuse & neglect. In K.D. Browne, C. Davies, & P. Stratton (Eds.), Early prediction and prevention of child abuse (pp. 57-83). Chichester, UK: Wiley. Buchanan, A. (1996). Cycles of child maltreatment: facts, fallacies, and interventions. New York : John Wiley & Sons. Buchholz, E.S., & Korn-Bursztyn, C. (1993). Children of adolescent mothers: Are they at risk for abuse? Adolescence, 28, 361-382. Chaffin, M., Kelleher, K., & Hollenberg, J. (1996). Onset of physical abuse and neglect: Psychiatric, substance abuse and social risk factors from prospective community data. Child Abuse & Neglect, 20, 191-203. Coohey, C. (1995). Neglectful mothers, their mothers and partners: the significance of mutual aid. Child Abuse & Neglect, 19, 885-895. Coohey, C. (1996). Child maltreatment: testing the social isolation hypothesis. Child Abuse & Neglect, 20, 241-254. Connely, C.D., & Straus, M.A. (1992). Mother's age and risk for physical abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 16, 709-718. Creighton, S.J. (1985). An epidemiological study of abused children and their families in the United Kingdom between 1977 and 1982. Child Abuse & Neglect, 9, 441-448. Creighton, S. J. (1992). Child abuse trends in England and Wales 1988-1990. London: NSPCC. Crittenden, P.M. (1999). Child neglect: causes and contributors. In H Dubowitz (Ed.), Neglected children. Research, practice and policy (pp 47-68). Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Department for Education and Skills. (2004). Every Child Matters: The Next Steps. London: DfES. Available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ Department of Health. (1995). Children and young people on child protection registers, year ending 31 March 1995. London: Department of Health. Department of Health. (1999). Working together to safeguard children. London: The Stationary Office. Available at: www.doh.gov.uk/pub/docs/doh/safeguard.pdf Department of Health. (2000). Framework for the assessment of children in need and their families. London: Department of Health. http://www.doh.gov.uk/quality.htm Dong, M., Anda, R.F., Felitti, V.J., Dube, S.R., Williamson, D.F., Thompson, T.J., Loo, C.M., & Giles, W.H. (2004). The interrelatedness of multiple forms of childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Child Abuse & Neglect, 28, 771-784. Egeland, B. (1993). A history of abuse is a major risk factor for abusing the next generations. In R.J. Gelles & D.R. Loseke (Eds.), Current controversies on family violence (pp 197-208). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Egeland, B., & Brunnquell, D. (1979). An at-risk approach to the study of child abuse: Some preliminary findings. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 18, 219-235. Egeland, B., & Susman-Stillman, A. (1996). Dissociation as a mediator of child abuse across generations. Child Abuse & Neglect, 20, 1123-1132. Erlich, A. (1996). The home-work reality and its effects on children. In National Commission of Inquiry into the prevention of child abuse: Childhood matters (Vol. 2, pp. 267–281). London: The Stationery Office Ertem, I.O., Leventhal, J.M., & Dobbs, S. (2000). Intergenerational continuity of child physical abuse: how good is the evidence? Lancet, 356, 814-819. Fergusson, D. M., Lynskey, M. T., & Horwood, J. (1996). Child sexual abuse and psychiatric disorders in young adulthood: I Prevalence of sexual abuse and factors associated with sexual abuse. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 34, 1355-1364. Finkelhor, D. (1994). Current information on the scope and nature of child sexual abuse. The Future of Children, 4, 31-53. Finkelhor, D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I.A., & Smith, C. (1990). Sexual abuse in a national survey of adult men and women: prevalence, characteristics and risk factors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 14, 19-28. Fitzgerald, J. (1998). Policy and practice in child protection: its relationship to dangerousness. In R.J. Dent (Ed.), Dangerous Care (pp9-21). London: The Bridge Child Care Development Service. Fleming, J., Mullen, P., & Bammer, G. (1997). A study of potential risk factors for sexual abuse in childhood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 21, 49-58. Friedrich, W., & Boriskin, J. (1976). The role of the child in abuse: A review of the literature. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 46, 580-590. Frodi, A.M. (1981). Contribution of infant characteristics to child abuse. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 85, 341-349. Garbarino, J. (1985). An ecological approach to child maltreatment. In L. Pelton (Ed.), The Social Context of Child Abuse and Neglect (pp228-267). New York: Human Sciences Press Inc. Garbarino, J.A., & Kostelny, K. (1992). Child maltreatment as a community problem. Child Abuse & Neglect, 16, 455-464. Gil, D.G. (1971). Violence against children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 33, 624-636. Gillham, B., Tanner, G., Cheyne, B., Freeman, I., Rooney, M., & Lambie, A. (1998). Unemployment rates, single parent density, and indices of child poverty: their relationship to different categories of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 79-90. Golding, J.G., & ALSPAC study team. (2001). ALSPAC: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Aims and Study Design (7th Edition). Bristol, UK: Institute of Child Health. Golding J., Pembrey M., Jones R., & ALSPAC Study Team (2001). ALSPAC: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children I. Study Methodology. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 15, 74-87. Goldson, E. (1998). Children with disabilities and child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 663-667. Haskett, M.E., Marziano, B., & Dover, E.R. (1996). Absence of males in maltreatment research: a survey of recent literature. Child Abuse & Neglect, 20, 1175-1182. Hawton, K., Roberts, J., & Goodwin, G. (1985). The risk of child abuse amongst mothers who attempt suicide. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 486-489. Heyman, R.E., & Slep, A.M.S. (2001). Risk factors for family violence: introduction to the special series. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 6, 115-119. Hunter, R.S., Kilstrom, N., Kraybill, E.N., & Loda, F. (1978). Antecedents of child abuse and neglect in premature infants: A prospective study in a newborn intensive care unit. Pediatrics, 61, 629-635. Katz, M.H. (1999). Multivariable analysis: a practical guide for clinicians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kaufman, J., & Zigler, E (1989). The intergenerational transmission of child abuse. In D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds.), Child maltreatment: theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp129-150). Cambridge: CUP. Kaufman, J., & Zigler, E. (1993). The intergenerational transmission of abuse is overstated. In R.J. Gelles & D.R. Loseke (Eds.), Current controversies on family violence (pp209-221). Newbury Park, Ca: Sage. Kinard, E.M., & Klerman, L.V. (1980). Teenage parenting and child abuse: are they related? American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 50, 481-487. Korbin, J.E. (1991). Cross-cultural perspectives and research directions for the 21st century. Child Abuse & Neglect, 15(Suppl. 1), 67-77. Kotch, J.B., Browne, D.C., Dufort, V., Winsor, J., & Catellier, D. (1999). Predicting child maltreatment in the first 4 years of life from characteristics assessed in the neonatal period. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23, 305-319. Kotch, J. B., Browne, D. C., Ringwalt, C. L., Dufort, V., Ruina, E., Stewart, P. W., & Jung, J. W. (1997). Stress, social support, and substantiated maltreatment in the second and third years of life. Child Abuse & Neglect, 21, 1025-1037. Kotch, J.B., Browne, D.C., Ringwalt, C.L., Stewart, P.W., Ruina, E., Holt, K., Lowman, B., & Jung, J.W. (1995). Risk of child abuse or neglect in a cohort of low-income children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 19, 1115-1130. Langeland, W., & Dijkstra, S. (1995). Breaking the intergenerational transmission of child abuse: beyond the mother-child relationship. Child Abuse Review, 4, 4-13. Leventhal, J.M. (1982). Research strategies and methodologic standards in studies of risk factors for child abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 6,113-123. Leventhal, J.M. (1998). Epidemiology of sexual abuse of children: old problems, new directions. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22, 481-491. Leventhal, J.M., Egerter, S.A, Murphy, J.M. (1984). Reassessment of the relationship of perinatal risk factors and child abuse. American Journal of Diseases of Childhood, 138, 1034-1039. Little, R.J.A., & Rubin, D.B. (1987). Statistical Anaysis with missing data. New York: Wiley. Lynch, M.A., & Roberts, J. (1977). Predicting child abuse: signs of bonding failure in the maternity hospital. British Medical Journal, 1, 624-626. McGuigan, W.M., & Pratt, C.C. (2001). The predictive impact of domestic violence on three types of child maltreatment. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 869-883. Neugebauer, R. (2000). Research on intergenerational transmission of violence: the next generation. Lancet, 355, 1116-7. Newberger, E.H., Hampton, R.L., Marx, T.J., & White, K.M. (1986). Child abuse and pediatric social illness: an epidemiological analysis and ecological reformulation. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 56, 589-601. Oliver, J.E. (1985). Successive generations of child maltreatment: Social and medical disorders in the parents. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 484-490. Oliver, J.E. (1993). Intergenerational transmission of child abuse: Rates, research, and clinical implications. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1315-1324. Pears, K.C., & Capaldi, D.M. (2001). Intergenerational transmission of abuse: A two-generational prospective study of an at-risk sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1439-1461. Peduzzi P., Concato J., Kemper E., Holford TR., & Feinstein AR. (1996). A simulation study of the number of events per variable in logistic regression analysis. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 49, 1373-1379. Pelton, L. (1981). The myth of classlessness. In L. Pelton (Ed.), The social context of child abuse and neglect (pp. 23-28). New York: Human Sciences Press. Plotkin, R.C., Azar, S., Twentyman, C.T., & Perri, M.G. (1981). A critical evaluation of the research methodology employed in the investigation of causative factors of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 5, 449-455. Polansky, N.A., Chalmers, M.A., Buttenwieser, E., & Williams, D.P. (1979). Isolation of the neglectful family. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 49, 149-152. Radhakrishna, A., Bou-Saada, I.E., Hunter, W.M., Catellier, D.J., & Kotch, J.B. (2001). Are father surrogates a risk factor for child maltreatment? Child Maltreatment, 6, 281-289. Rumm, P.D., Cummings, P., Krauss, M.R., Bell, M.A., & Rivara F.P. (2000). Identified spouse abuse as a risk factor for child abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect,24, 1375-1381. Seagull, E.A.W. (1987). Social support and child maltreatment: A review of the evidence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 11, 41-42. Sidebotham, P.D., & ALSPAC study team. (2000). Patterns of child abuse in early childhood, a cohort study of the 'Children of the Nineties'. Child Abuse Review, 9, 311-320. Sidebotham, P.D., & ALSPAC study team. (2001). Culture, stress, and the parent-child relationship: a qualitative study of parents’ perceptions of parenting. Child: Care, Health and Development, 27, 469-485. Sidebotham, P.D., Golding, J., & ALSPAC study team. (2001). Child maltreatment in the ‘children of the nineties’: A longitudinal study of parental risk factors. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1177-1200. Sidebotham, P.D., Heron, J., & ALSPAC study team. (2003). Child maltreatment in the ‘children of the nineties’: The role of the child. Child Abuse & Neglect, 27, 337-352. Sidebotham, P.D., Heron, J., Golding, J., & ALSPAC study team. (2002). Child maltreatment in the ‘children of the nineties’: Deprivation, class and social networks in a UK sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 26, 1243-1259. Smith, J.A.S., & Adler, R.G. (1991). Children hospitalized with child abuse and neglect: A case control study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 15, 437-445. Smith, S.M., Hanson, R., & Noble, S. (1974). Social aspects of the battered baby syndrome. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 568-582. Spearly, J.L., & Lauderdale, M. (1983). Community characteristics and ethnicity in the prediction of child maltreatment rates. Child Abuse & Neglect, 7, 91-105. Sullivan, P.M., & Knutson, J.F. (2000). Maltreatment and disabilities: a population-based epidemiological study. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 1257-1273. Tajima, E. A. (2000). The relative importance of wife abuse as a risk factor for violence against children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 1383-1398. Taylor, C. G., Norman, D. K., Murphy, J. M., Jellinek, M., Quinn, D., Poitrast, F. G., & Goshko, M. (1991). Diagnosed intellectual and emotional impairment among parents who seriously maltreat their children. Child Abuse & Neglect, 15, 389-401. Townsend, P. (1987). Deprivation. Journal of Social Policy, 16, 125-146. Victora, C.G., Huttly, S.R., Fuchs, S.C., & Olinto, M.T.A. (1997). The role of conceptual frameworks in epidemiological analysis: a hierarchical approach. International Journal of Epidemiology, 26, 224-227. Zuravin, S. (1991). Unplanned childbearing and family size: relationship to child neglect and abuse. Family Planning Perspectives, 23, 155-161.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/280