Freisthler Bridget, Kranich Christiana, Price Wolf Jennifer, Boyd Reiko, Gruenewald Paul J
College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Ohio, Columbus, USA.
Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center, The Ohio State University, Ohio, Columbus, USA.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken). 2023 Jan;47(1):143-154. doi: 10.1111/acer.14975. Epub 2022 Nov 23.
Alcohol use can lead to child abuse and neglect even if the person using alcohol does not use heavily. Yet relatively few measures that reflect alcohol use are available at smaller geographic units. We assess whether the estimated level of total alcohol use per capita is related to measures of child abuse and neglect that include substantiated reports of maltreatment, total entries into foster care, and alcohol-related entries into foster care.
Our sample consists of 326 Census block groups in Sacramento, California over three time points (978 space-time units). Administrative data for substantiations of child abuse and neglect and foster care entries are our outcomes. We create market potentials for alcohol use among 18- to 29-year-olds as our primary independent variable. Data are analyzed using Bayesian conditionally autoregressive spatio-temporal models.
Higher alcohol use potentials (as measured by total volume per capita of 18- to 29-year olds) are related to more children entering foster care due to drinking-related concerns by a parent or caregiver (RR = 1.032, 95% CI = [1.013, 1.051]), but not total substantiations for foster care entries. Neighborhoods with higher total volume of alcohol per 18- to 29-year-olds had more foster care entries when we used number of substantiations as the denominator (RR = 1.012, 95% CI = [1.0001, 1.023]) but were not related to foster care entries with alcohol misuse as a concern as a subset of all foster care entries.
Higher estimated volume of alcohol use per capita among young adults (aged 18 to 29) was related to more children entering foster care due to alcohol-related concerns. Reducing alcohol supply in alcohol outlets, specifically through off-premise establishments, might reduce rates for all entries into foster care or other out-of-home placement and substantiated child abuse and neglect.
即使饮酒者饮酒量不大，饮酒也可能导致虐待和忽视儿童的行为。然而，在较小的地理区域内，反映饮酒情况的指标相对较少。我们评估人均酒精使用总量的估计水平是否与虐待和忽视儿童的指标相关，这些指标包括虐待行为的证实报告、进入寄养机构的总人数以及与酒精相关的进入寄养机构的人数。
我们的样本包括加利福尼亚州萨克拉门托市的326个人口普查街区组，共三个时间点（978个时空单位）。虐待和忽视儿童行为的证实以及寄养机构安置的行政数据是我们的研究结果。我们将18至29岁人群的酒精使用市场潜力作为主要自变量。使用贝叶斯条件自回归时空模型对数据进行分析。
较高的酒精使用潜力（以18至29岁人群的人均总量衡量）与因父母或照顾者与饮酒相关的担忧而进入寄养机构的儿童数量增加有关（风险比率=1.032，95%置信区间=[1.013, 1.051]），但与寄养机构安置的总证实数量无关。当我们以证实数量为分母时，18至29岁人群酒精总量较高的社区有更多的寄养机构安置（风险比率=1.012，95%置信区间=[1.0001, 1.023]），但与作为所有寄养机构安置子集的因酒精滥用问题而进入寄养机构的情况无关。
18至29岁年轻人中估计的人均酒精使用量较高与因酒精相关担忧而进入寄养机构的儿童数量增加有关。减少酒类销售点的酒精供应，特别是通过非店内场所，可能会降低进入寄养机构或其他家庭外安置的总比率以及虐待和忽视儿童行为的证实率。
