Citation

Kotch JB, Browne DC, Ringwalt CL, Dufort V, Ruina E, Stewart PW, Jung JW. Child Abuse Negl. 1997; 21(11): 1025-1037.

Affiliation

Department of Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9422824

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to determine whether risk factors for a maltreatment report in the first year of life, especially the interaction of life event stress and social support, persist into the second and third years of life. METHOD: Predominantly low income mothers who had been interviewed shortly after the birth of infants in a longitudinal cohort were re-interviewed around the infants' first birthdays, and reports to North Carolina's Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect were tracked for substantiated maltreatment reports. RESULTS: Variables significantly associated with a substantiated maltreatment report in the second or third year of life (p < .01) were first year maltreatment reports and participation in Medicaid. Three interactions between a stressful life event indicator variable and a social support indicator variable were significant predictors of substantiated second or third year reports (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Even in the presence of significant risk factors from the first year of life, life event stress can increase the risk of a substantiated maltreatment report in the second or third years of life, but social support may moderate the effect of life events.

Language: en