University of Texas Health, Science Center at Tyler & Population Health, Office of Health Affairs, University of Texas System, 210 W. 7th St., Austin, TX, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2019 Sep;95:104069. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104069. Epub 2019 Jul 10.
Minority race/ethnicity, low socioeconomic status, and lack of established paternity have been identified in previous research as risk factors for child maltreatment. However, given vastly different patterns of income distribution, single parenting and co-parenting across racial and ethnic populations, it is difficult to know which of these factors contribute most to maltreatment risk.
The current study explores whether the odds of maltreatment differ across race/ethnicity when paternity is not established at birth after controlling for maternal socioeconomic status.
Using merged birth certificate and child protective services records for children born between 2009 and 2011 in Texas (N = 1,175,804), we conducted multiple logistic regression analyses testing the main effects of maternal race and lack of established paternity, as well as the interaction of the two, on substantiated maltreatment.
Results show that children of black mothers were less likely to have established paternity and more likely to experience maltreatment compared with other groups. However, the odds of maltreatment were lower for children of black mothers without established paternity compared to children of white mothers without established paternity (OR = .71, 95% CI [0.67,0.75]). Alternatively, the odds of maltreatment were higher when paternity was not established at birth for Hispanic mothers (OR = 1.13, 95% CI [1.08,1.18]) and mothers of other race/ethnicities (OR = 1.35, 95% CI [1.11,1.65]) compared to white mothers.
Research and prevention programming must consider that the processes and pathways linking paternity establishment and maltreatment may differ within and between racial/ethnic groups.
在先前的研究中，少数民族、社会经济地位较低以及未确立的亲子关系已被确定为儿童虐待的风险因素。然而，鉴于不同种族和族裔群体的收入分配、单亲家庭和共同育儿模式存在巨大差异，很难确定哪些因素对虐待风险的贡献最大。
本研究探讨了在控制了母亲的社会经济地位后，出生时未确立亲子关系的情况下，种族/族裔是否会对虐待的可能性产生影响。
利用德克萨斯州 2009 年至 2011 年出生的儿童的出生证明和儿童保护服务记录的合并数据（N=1,175,804），我们进行了多项逻辑回归分析，检验了母亲的种族和未确立亲子关系的主要效应，以及两者的相互作用，对证实的虐待行为的影响。
结果表明，与其他群体相比，黑人母亲的孩子更不可能确立亲子关系，更有可能遭受虐待。然而，与白人母亲的孩子相比，没有确立亲子关系的黑人母亲的孩子遭受虐待的可能性较低（OR=0.71，95%CI[0.67,0.75]）。相反，对于西班牙裔母亲（OR=1.13，95%CI[1.08,1.18]）和其他种族/族裔的母亲（OR=1.35，95%CI[1.11,1.65]），与白人母亲相比，出生时未确立亲子关系的情况下，孩子遭受虐待的可能性更高。
研究和预防计划必须考虑到在不同种族/族裔群体内部和之间，确立亲子关系和虐待之间的联系过程和途径可能不同。
