Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Public Policy, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Econ Hum Biol. 2021 Aug;42:101015. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2021.101015. Epub 2021 May 8.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been shown to have positive benefits for children. Families may face fewer barriers to accessing food they can purchase with their benefits if more stores in their neighborhoods accept SNAP benefits. We examine whether proximity to stores accepting SNAP benefits is related to child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) reports, particularly those potentially related to food insecurity. We combine geographically identified child maltreatment report data from the state of Connecticut from 2011 through 2015 with state SNAP-authorized retailer data. Using within-Census block group changes in the presence of a SNAP-authorized store, we find that in large, rural areas, one additional SNAP store is associated with a 4.4 percent decrease in the child maltreatment report rate (p < 0.05), and an 11.3 percent decrease in substantiated cases of maltreatment (p < 0.10), even net of changing zip code level factors and time-invariant neighborhood characteristics. The relationship between a neighborhood SNAP store and child maltreatment reports in these rural areas is largely driven by neglect, concentrated among young and school-aged children (ages 0-9), and primarily due to fewer reports by medical personnel. We find no effects of a neighborhood SNAP store on child maltreatment reports in smaller, more densely populated neighborhoods. Sensitivity checks affirm these results. Results indicate the benefits of access to SNAP retailers on the child welfare system and child well-being more broadly, especially in rural areas.
补充营养援助计划（SNAP）已被证明对儿童有积极的益处。如果社区内有更多的商店接受 SNAP 福利，家庭获得可购买的食物的障碍可能会减少。我们研究了接受 SNAP 福利的商店的接近程度是否与儿童虐待（虐待和忽视）报告有关，特别是与粮食不安全有关的报告。我们将康涅狄格州 2011 年至 2015 年的地理位置确定的儿童虐待报告数据与州 SNAP 授权零售商数据相结合。使用 SNAP 授权商店存在的人口普查区内组内变化，我们发现，在大型农村地区，每增加一家 SNAP 商店，儿童虐待报告率就会降低 4.4%（p<0.05），经证实的虐待案件减少 11.3%（p<0.10），即使考虑到变化的邮政编码级别因素和时间不变的邻里特征也是如此。在这些农村地区，邻里 SNAP 商店与儿童虐待报告之间的关系主要是由忽视引起的，主要集中在年轻和学龄儿童（0-9 岁），主要是因为医务人员的报告减少了。我们没有发现邻里 SNAP 商店对较小、人口密度较大的社区的儿童虐待报告有任何影响。敏感性检查证实了这些结果。结果表明，获得 SNAP 零售商的机会对儿童福利系统和更广泛的儿童福利都有好处，特别是在农村地区。
