University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America.
Child Abuse Negl. 2022 Aug;130(Pt 1):105376. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105376. Epub 2021 Oct 25.
Although there is evidence that family violence increased in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have characterized longitudinal trends in family violence across the course of initial stay-at-home orders.
The purpose of the present study is to investigate patterns and predictors of family violence, such as child maltreatment and harsh punishment, during the first eight weeks of the pandemic after initial stay-at-home orders in North Carolina.
Participants included 120 families with children ages 4-11 (53% non-White, 49% female) and a primary caregiver (98% female) living in rural and suburban areas in North Carolina. Participants were recruited based on high risk of pre-pandemic family violence exposure.
Caregivers completed weekly surveys during the pandemic assessing family violence, caregiver employment status, and caregiver emotion reactivity. In addition, all caregivers completed pre-pandemic surveys on family violence.
Mixed-effects models revealed that family violence was highest following initial stay-at-home orders and decreased linearly over time. Higher pre-pandemic child violence exposure and caregiver unemployment were associated with higher initial family violence. Higher caregiver emotion reactivity was associated with changes in family violence across time.
We observed high levels of family violence following stay-at-home orders, especially in families with higher baseline violence, higher caregiver emotion reactivity, and caregiver unemployment or underemployment. These associations suggest that vulnerable families may respond to the additional stressor of stay-at-home orders with increased violence and thus need additional support in moments of crisis.
尽管有证据表明，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，美国的家庭暴力有所增加，但很少有研究描述了在最初居家令实施期间家庭暴力的纵向趋势。
本研究的目的是调查北卡罗来纳州最初居家令实施后的头八周内，家庭暴力（如儿童虐待和严厉惩罚）的模式和预测因素。
参与者包括 120 个有 4-11 岁儿童的家庭（53%非白人，49%女性）和一名主要照顾者（98%女性），他们居住在北卡罗来纳州的农村和郊区。根据大流行前家庭暴力暴露的高风险招募了参与者。
在大流行期间，照顾者每周完成一次评估家庭暴力、照顾者就业状况和照顾者情绪反应性的调查。此外，所有照顾者都在大流行前完成了家庭暴力调查。
混合效应模型显示，家庭暴力在最初居家令后最高，并随时间呈线性下降。较高的大流行前儿童暴力暴露和照顾者失业与较高的初始家庭暴力有关。较高的照顾者情绪反应性与随时间变化的家庭暴力变化有关。
我们观察到在居家令后家庭暴力水平较高，尤其是在基线暴力、照顾者情绪反应性较高、照顾者失业或就业不足的家庭中。这些关联表明，弱势家庭可能会因居家令这一额外压力源而增加暴力，因此在危机时刻需要额外的支持。
