Citation

Freisthler B, Midanik LT, Gruenewald PJ. J. Stud. Alcohol 2004; 65(5): 586-592.

Affiliation

Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 1995 University Avenue, Suite 450, Berkeley, California 94704, USA. freisthler@sppsr.ucla.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15536767

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not alcohol access in neighborhood areas is differentially related to substantiated reports of child physical abuse and neglect. METHOD: This cross-sectional ecological study uses spatial regression procedures to examine the relationship between the number of bars, restaurants and off-premise outlets per population and rates of child physical abuse and neglect in 940 census tracts in California, while controlling for levels of social disorganization, population density and county of residence. RESULTS: The number of off-premise outlets per population was positively associated with rates of child physical abuse (b = 3.34, SE = 1.14), and the number of bars per population was positively related to rates of child neglect (b = 1.89, SE = 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that alcohol access is differentially related to type of child maltreatment, with higher densities of bars being related to higher rates of child neglect, and higher rates of off-premise outlets related to higher rates of child physical abuse. The findings suggest there is a spatial dynamic of neighborhoods that can result in child maltreatment and underscore the importance of examining the alcohol environment when developing programs to prevent child maltreatment.

Language: en