Neighborhood Characteristics of Child Maltreatment in Georgia 4. 3. 2009

1. Neighborhood Characteristics of Child Maltreatment in Georgia 4. 3. 2009 Byungdeok Kang, MSW Hyejung Oh, MSW Jaegoo Lee, MSW, and Edwin Risler, PhD, MSW

2. WHAT DO WE PRESENT? • INTRODUCTION: Child Maltreatment • Trend in Research • Community Factors in Previous Studies • SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY • STUDY METHODS • STUDY FINDINGS • DISCUSSIONS

3. INTRODUCTION • There are 3,000,000 reports of child abuse and neglect each year in the U.S. – 12.3 per 1000 children were maltreated • In Georgia , 101,563 reports were made to the Georgia Department of Family and Child Services (DFCS) representing 51,717 child victims – 22.5 per 1000 children were maltreated

4. TREND IN RESEARCH (I) • Previous research on the child maltreatment has focused mainly on identifying the individual level protective and risk factors of child maltreatment. • Current explanation of child maltreatment focus on interacting individual, family, and neighborhood factors and suggest that neighborhood have etiological significance (National Research Council, 1993).

5. TREND IN RESEARCH (II) • Although interest in neighborhood influences on child maltreatment has increased, research that seeks to uncover the relationship between neighborhoods and child maltreatment has lagged behind research into individual and family correlates. • Our understanding of the causes of child maltreatment has evolved beyond the focus on individual and family characteristics to incorporate the effects of structural factors of both the community and the society at large.

6. COMMUNITY RISK FACTORS IN THE PREVIOUS STUDIES

7. LIMITATIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS STUDIES • Look beyond individual and family level. Incorporate community factors. • Geographical limitation. Need to differentiate inner city, suburb, and rural area. • Differentiate specific types of child maltreatment. Other than physical and sexual abuse, especially neglect, needs more research attention.

8. STUDY VARIABLES

10. SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY • Gather in a small group (5 - 10 people) • Talk in your small groups about the following questions (10 minutes) • Prepare to present your thoughts to the class • Send a representative from your small group and briefly present your thoughts on your small group’s behalf

11. SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY (continued)

12. METHODS • SAMPLING METHOD • Stratified Sampling • 329 Zip Codes (171 MSA & 158 Non-MSA) • ANALYSIS METHODS • T-test • Regression • Bivariate / Multivariate Regression (Stepwise Selection)

13. FINDINGS • Means of Child Maltreatment/Abuse/Neglect Rates • Maltreatment: 7.92 cases per 1,000 children • Metropolitan = 6.24 cases vs. Non-Metro = 9.76 cases • Abuse: 3.24 cases per 1,000 children • Metropolitan = 2.58 cases vs. Non-Metro = 3.94 cases • Neglect: 5.46 cases per 1,000 children • Metropolitan = 4.32 cases vs. Non-Metro = 6.71 cases

14. FINDINGS: Child Maltreatment

15. FINDINGS: Child Maltreatment – Metropolitan vs. Non-Metropolitan

16. FINDINGS: Child Abuse

17. FINDINGS: Child Abuse – Metropolitan vs. Non-Metropolitan

18. FINDINGS: Child Neglect

19. FINDINGS: Child Neglect – Metropolitan vs. Non-Metropolitan

20. FINDINGS: Summary of Stepwise

21. DISCUSSIONS (I) • Findings I: Higher Rates in Poverty & Single Parent Family – Higher Rates in Child Maltreatment, Abuse and Neglect • According to community social disorganization theory, a lack of community organizations causes violent crime and other problems in community. • Greater levels of poverty and higher numbers of single parents families would represent a lack of social organizations in community. • Therefore, communities greater levels of disadvantage may not have the economic resources that need to support family functioning, particularly for sing parent families.

22. DISCUSSIONS (II) • Findings II: Higher Rates in Child Population and Urbanization – Lower Rates in Child Maltreatment, Abuse and Neglect • By community institutional resource model, communities that have a number of child are and are urbanized may have larger numbers of social resources. So those social resources may monitor child maltreatment and promote healthy development. • Thus, to reduce rates of child neglect, more number of and high quality of social resources need to be provided in community.

23. DISCUSSIONS (III) • Findings III: Among the risk factors in our study, the analyses showed that six variables were significantly associated with child neglect while four variables were with child abuse. • The analyses showed that there were four common significant variables: poverty, single parent family, African American population, and urbanization. • The analyses showed that the two variables (crowded dwelling and child population) were significant only with child neglect.

24. DISCUSSIONS (IV) • Findings IV: The well-known community risk factors explained child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) more in the metropolitan areas than the non-metropolitan areas. • The previous studies did not consider much about geographic differences (e.g. metropolitan vs. non-metropolitan areas). • Our findings showed that there were significant differences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.

25. IMPLICATIONS • Our findings suggest that … • Changing neighborhood structural factors and creating opportunities for residents to expand social support networks; • Locating both economic and preventive resources enabling families to better deal with stressful and isolating circumstances; and • Preventing maltreatment by providing more stable home environment for children

26. LIMITATIONS • The case of child maltreatment might be biased because DFCS data may not represent all child maltreatment cases that have been occurred in GA. • Since this study was done with only Georgia data, the findings would not be generalized to other areas in the United States.

27. Questions & Comments Byungdeok Kang bkang@uga.edu Hyejung Oh hjoh@uga.edu Jaegoo Lee 2jglee@uga.edu Ed Rislererisler@uga.edu School of Social Work, University of Georgia THANK YOU!!!