Children's Data Network, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, 5116University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Child Maltreat. 2022 Aug;27(3):400-410. doi: 10.1177/10775595211006784. Epub 2021 May 3.
Childhood maltreatment involves dynamics between the type of maltreatment experienced and the context of maltreatment. Reports of alleged maltreatment to child protective services may overlap and shift over time, complicating understanding of their independent and interacting nature, including how child protection systems respond. Latent class analysis (LCA) and latent transition analysis (LTA) were used to construct data-based models of longitudinal dynamics of alleged maltreatment throughout childhood. We sought to identify patterns leading to system decisions to substantiate allegations of maltreatment and place children in foster care. Using linked birth and child protection records, we defined a cohort of children born in California in 1999, 29.4% of whom had at least one referral for alleged maltreatment before their 18th birthday. Maltreatment and perpetrator indicators were coded, and LCA identified five alleged maltreatment classes and one class of children without referrals. LTA determined consistency of classifications and estimated transitions between classes over age periods. Children with multitype maltreatment patterns or experiences of neglect were most likely to experience future maltreatment allegations. Estimated probabilities of placement indicated children with Multitype Maltreatment allegations were more likely to experience substantiated maltreatment allegations and out-of-home placements. Findings identify a repeatable method for better understanding complex systems.
儿童虐待涉及所经历的虐待类型和虐待背景之间的动态关系。向儿童保护服务机构报告的虐待指控可能会重叠并随时间推移而变化，从而使人们难以理解其独立和相互作用的性质，包括儿童保护系统的反应方式。潜在类别分析（LCA）和潜在转变分析（LTA）被用于构建儿童期整个虐待指控的纵向动态的基于数据的模型。我们试图确定导致系统决定证实虐待指控并将儿童安置在寄养家庭的模式。使用链接的出生和儿童保护记录，我们定义了一个 1999 年在加利福尼亚州出生的儿童队列，其中 29.4%的儿童在 18 岁生日之前至少有一次被指控虐待。对虐待和施虐者指标进行了编码，LCA 确定了五类虐待指控和一类没有转介的儿童。LTA 确定了分类的一致性，并估计了各年龄段之间的类别转变。有多类型虐待模式或经历忽视的儿童最有可能遭受未来的虐待指控。预计的安置概率表明，有多种虐待指控的儿童更有可能遭受证实的虐待指控和离家安置。研究结果确定了一种可重复的方法，以更好地理解复杂的系统。
