Bullinger Lindsey Rose, Raissian Kerri M, Feely Megan, Schneider William J
School of Public Policy, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States.
Department of Public Policy, University of Connecticut, United States.
Child Youth Serv Rev. 2021 Dec;131:106287. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106287. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic led to extreme social isolation, precarious employment and job loss, working from home while tending to children, and limited access to public services. The confluence of these factors likely affects child health and well-being. We combine early release child maltreatment reports in Indiana with unique and newly available mobile phone movement data to better understand the relationship between staying at home intensively during the COVID-19 pandemic and child maltreatment. Our findings indicate that the prolonged stays at home promoted by the early public health response to COVID-19 resulted in reductions in child maltreatment reports overall and substantiated reports of maltreatment. However, relative to areas that stayed home less, children in areas that stayed home more were more likely to be both reported for and a confirmed victim of maltreatment, particularly neglect. These areas have historically been socioeconomically advantaged and experienced lower rates of maltreatment. We only observe increases in confirmed child maltreatment in metropolitan counties, suggesting that the effects of staying home on child maltreatment may reflect both the differential risk of leaving home and access to services in metropolitan-rather than non-metropolitan-counties. Staying at home has been challenging for many families. Families likely need assistance as the pandemic persists, evolves, and when it ends.
新冠疫情爆发的最初几个月导致了极度的社会隔离、不稳定的就业和失业、在家照顾孩子的同时还要工作，以及公共服务获取受限。这些因素的共同作用可能会影响儿童的健康和福祉。我们将印第安纳州早期发布的儿童虐待报告与独特且最新可用的手机移动数据相结合，以更好地了解在新冠疫情期间长时间居家与儿童虐待之间的关系。我们的研究结果表明，早期针对新冠疫情的公共卫生应对措施所导致的长时间居家，总体上减少了儿童虐待报告以及经证实的虐待报告。然而，与居家时间较少的地区相比，居家时间较长地区的儿童更有可能被报告遭受虐待且被确认为虐待受害者，尤其是忽视。这些地区在历史上具有社会经济优势，虐待发生率较低。我们仅在大都市县观察到经证实的儿童虐待有所增加，这表明居家对儿童虐待的影响可能既反映了大都市县（而非非大都市县）离家的不同风险，也反映了获取服务的情况。对许多家庭来说，居家一直具有挑战性。随着疫情的持续、演变以及结束，家庭可能需要援助。
