Citation

McLaughlin M. Child Abuse Negl. 2017; 67: 315-321.

Affiliation

Department of Social Work, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States. Electronic address: mclaughlinm@wustl.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.03.006

PMID

28340424

Abstract

A number of research studies have documented an association between child maltreatment and family income. Yet, little is known about the specific types of economic shocks that affect child maltreatment rates. The paucity of information is troubling given that more than six million children are reported for maltreatment annually in the U.S. alone. This study examines whether an exogenous shock to families' disposable income, a change in the price of gasoline, predicts changes in child maltreatment. The findings of a fixed-effects regression show that increases in state-level gas prices are associated with increases in state-level child maltreatment referral rates, even after controlling for demographic and other economic variables. The results are robust to the manner of estimation; random-effects and mixed-effects regressions produce similar estimates. The findings suggest that fluctuations in the price of gas may have important consequences for children.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Child abuse; Child maltreatment; Economics