Citation

Freisthler B, Merritt DH, Lascala EA. Child Maltreat. 2006; 11(3): 263-280.

Affiliation

University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA. freisthler@spa.ucla.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559506289524

PMID

16816324

Abstract

Studies examining neighborhood characteristics in relation to social problems, including child maltreatment, have proliferated in the past 25 years. This article reviews the current state of knowledge of ecological studies of child maltreatment. Taken as a whole, these 18 studies document a stable ecological relationship among neighborhood impoverishment, housing stress, and rates of child maltreatment, as well as some evidence that unemployment, child care burden, and alcohol availability may contribute to child abuse and neglect. The authors include a discussion of methodological difficulties in conducting research at the neighborhood level and present a set of recommendations for future research that emphasizes movement from a simple examination of neighborhood-level characteristics toward a theoretically driven explication of processes and mechanisms supported by appropriate multilevel modeling techniques. The final goal of such efforts would be to enable practitioners to develop evidence-based neighborhood interventions that would prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect.

Language: en