Chanda Trisha, Berger Lawrence M, Dwyer Rachel E
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Ohio State University.
Soc Serv Rev. 2025 Sep;99(3). doi: 10.1086/736714. Epub 2025 Jul 15.
Research has identified a likely causal relation of economic precarity with both child maltreatment and child protective service (CPS) involvement. Yet, little is known about the relation between credit use (debt) and CPS involvement despite credit becoming an increasingly normative aspect of attempting to manage economic precarity for low-income families. We link individual-level longitudinal data on credit use to administrative records on CPS involvement, to examine whether credit related economic precarity-or 'debt strain'-is associated with increased CPS reports, allegations of child neglect and child abuse, and CPS removal of children for low-income mothers in Wisconsin from 2016-2021. Results from standard and mother-specific fixed-effects logistic regressions suggest that debt strain is associated with greater risk of CPS involvement, particularly for child neglect. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that these associations are concentrated among low-income and White mothers. We discuss implications for debt-regulation and CPS policy and programs.
研究已经确定经济不稳定与虐待儿童和儿童保护服务（CPS）介入之间可能存在因果关系。然而，尽管信贷已成为低收入家庭试图应对经济不稳定的一个越来越常见的方面，但对于信贷使用（债务）与CPS介入之间的关系却知之甚少。我们将关于信贷使用的个体层面纵向数据与CPS介入的行政记录相联系，以研究与信贷相关的经济不稳定——即“债务压力”——是否与2016年至2021年期间威斯康星州低收入母亲的CPS报告增加、儿童忽视和虐待指控以及CPS将儿童带走有关。标准和针对母亲的固定效应逻辑回归结果表明，债务压力与CPS介入的风险增加有关，尤其是对于儿童忽视。异质性分析表明，这些关联集中在低收入和白人母亲中。我们讨论了对债务监管以及CPS政策和项目的影响。
