Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Social Work, 390 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States of America.
Child Abuse Negl. 2022 Aug;130(Pt 4):105328. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105328. Epub 2021 Sep 16.
Studies have confirmed that income inequality is associated with compromised health and well-being. However, much less is known about the effects of county-level income inequality on risk of perpetrating child maltreatment, particularly for distinct types of child maltreatment. By utilizing recent national data over 10 years (2009-2018), our study explored the associations of county-level income inequality (i.e., Gini index and income quantile ratios) with child maltreatment rates, including both overall and specific types of maltreatment rates (i.e., physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and neglect) in the US.
We utilized data from approximately 902 US counties by linking the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System with the American Community Survey.
Ordinary Least Squares regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between county-level income inequality and child maltreatment rates and the moderating role of poverty rates.
Higher scores on county-level Gini index were significantly associated with higher overall child maltreatment rates and neglect, after controlling for county-level characteristics. Income quantile ratios were significantly associated with overall child maltreatment, physical abuse, and neglect. We also found significant interaction effects between income inequality and poverty rates in the associations with physical and psychological abuse rates, suggesting that the effects of inequality were exacerbated by county-level poverty.
Given the tremendous increases in inequality in the US over recent decades, this research sheds light on the mechanisms through which inequality impacts parents' caregiving abilities in highly unequal counties.
研究证实，收入不平等与健康和幸福感受损有关。然而，人们对县级收入不平等对虐待儿童风险的影响知之甚少，特别是对不同类型的虐待儿童。通过利用最近 10 年（2009-2018 年）的全国数据，我们的研究探讨了县级收入不平等（即基尼指数和收入分位数比）与儿童虐待率之间的关系，包括美国的总体和特定类型的虐待率（即身体、心理和性虐待和忽视）。
我们通过将国家儿童虐待和忽视数据系统与美国社区调查相联系，利用来自大约 902 个美国县的数据。
采用普通最小二乘法回归模型来检验县级收入不平等与儿童虐待率之间的关系，以及贫困率的调节作用。
在控制了县级特征后，县级基尼指数得分越高，与总体儿童虐待率和忽视率越高显著相关。收入分位数比与总体儿童虐待、身体虐待和忽视显著相关。我们还发现，不平等与贫困率之间的相互作用效应在身体和心理虐待率方面存在显著差异，这表明不平等的影响因县级贫困而加剧。
鉴于美国近几十年来不平等现象急剧增加，这项研究揭示了不平等通过何种机制影响不平等程度较高的县父母的养育能力。
