School of Social Work, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.
College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Child Maltreat. 2024 Nov;29(4):625-636. doi: 10.1177/10775595231218177. Epub 2023 Nov 23.
Reports of child maltreatment vary by neighborhood characteristics, yet the influence of housing affordability is less understood. The current study examines the relationship between reports of suspected child maltreatment and the spatial distribution of affordable housing across 2,341 census tracts in Los Angeles County, California. Bayesian conditionally autoregressive model results indicate that neighborhoods where residents paid a greater share of their income in rent had fewer reports of suspected child maltreatment, while neighborhoods with a higher number of subsidized rental units had more reports. These findings suggest that higher cost neighborhoods provide supportive resources and amenities to families which may reduce risk of child maltreatment. Subsidized housing units are more likely to be located in high poverty, under resourced neighborhoods, thus undermining the benefits of these programs to families. These findings have implications for equitable housing policy that promotes inclusive communities as a primary prevention strategy for child maltreatment.
有关儿童虐待的报告因社区特征而异，但住房负担能力的影响却鲜为人知。本研究调查了加利福尼亚州洛杉矶县 2341 个普查区的经济适用房的空间分布与疑似儿童虐待报告之间的关系。贝叶斯条件自回归模型的结果表明，居民支付租金占收入比例较高的社区，疑似儿童虐待的报告较少，而拥有更多补贴性租赁单位的社区则报告更多。这些发现表明，高成本社区为家庭提供了支持性资源和便利设施，这可能降低了儿童虐待的风险。补贴性住房单位更有可能位于贫困程度高、资源匮乏的社区，从而削弱了这些计划对家庭的益处。这些发现对促进包容性社区作为儿童虐待初级预防策略的公平住房政策具有重要意义。
