Interactions with community members and institutions: Preventive pathways for child maltreatment

Abstract

Parents interact with their environment in important ways that may impact their ability to parent their children positively. The current study uses data from the age 3 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study to investigate whether neighborhood processes and community participation relate to internal control, and whether these three variables are associated with child maltreatment behaviors. Using structural equation modeling, the direct and indirect effects of the environment (neighborhood disorder, social control, and social cohesion) and community participation on child maltreatment are tested. The mediating variable tested is internal control. The results show that neighborhood processes and community participation are associated with child neglect, physical child abuse, and psychological aggression but that these associations are driven through their effect on internal control.

Neighbourhood collective efficacy and protective effects on child maltreatment: A systematic literature review

“…Rigorous quantitative techniques, including Structural Equation Modelling ( SEM ), and various regression techniques were employed, with majority reporting an acceptable coefficient (Cronbach α > 0.7) of the scales adopted. A few of the American studies emanated from the national longitudinal study on Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) (Barnhart & Maguire‐Jack, 2016; Cao & Maguire‐Jack, 2016; Guterman, Lee, Taylor, & Rathouz, 2009; Kim & Maguire‐Jack, 2015), and the majority of the remaining studies were cross‐sectional surveys (Emery, Eremina, et al, 2015; Freisthler & Maguire‐Jack, 2015; Fujiwara, Yamaoka, & Kawachi, 2016; Guterman et al., 2009; Nawa, Isumi, & Fujiwara, 2018). Participants for these studies were mostly mothers and caregivers, a few adults and community members (Finno‐Velasquez, He, Perrigo, & Hurlburt, 2017; Wolf, Baiocchi, & Arguello, 2018; Yonas et al., 2010).…”

“…The inverse association of the pooled effects is interpreted as a protective effect of social cohesion against parents’ proclivity to maltreat their children. Similarly, Cao and Maguire‐Jack (2016) and Guterman et al., (2009) included measures of social disorder to determine parents’ positive or negative perceptions of their neighbourhood cohesion and how it related to maltreatment behaviours. Mothers’ negative perceptions of their neighbourhood cohesion were associated with higher incidence of psychological aggression (Cao & Maguire‐Jack, 2016) but Guterman's study did not find any association with neglect.…”

“…Similarly, Cao and Maguire‐Jack (2016) and Guterman et al., (2009) included measures of social disorder to determine parents’ positive or negative perceptions of their neighbourhood cohesion and how it related to maltreatment behaviours. Mothers’ negative perceptions of their neighbourhood cohesion were associated with higher incidence of psychological aggression (Cao & Maguire‐Jack, 2016) but Guterman's study did not find any association with neglect. This evidence strengthens the conceptualisation of social cohesion as both a product of neighbourhood social processes and a precursor that initiates collective parenting and neighbourhood engagement.…”

“…In employing sophisticated multivariate techniques such as SEM , pathway analysis and mediation/moderation models, few of the reviewed studies examined common risk factors such as parental stress, internal locus of control, psychological distress and maternal depression as mediating variables explaining the relationship between collective efficacy factors and subtypes of maltreatment (Barnhart & Maguire‐Jack, 2016; Cao & Maguire‐Jack, 2016; Guterman et al., 2009; Kim & Maguire‐Jack, 2015; Maguire‐Jack & Wang, 2016; Nawa et al., 2018). Barnhart and Maguire‐Jack (2016) found maternal depression to mediate the relationship between social cohesion in both physical abuse and neglect behaviours.…”

Risk factors for child maltreatment in South Korea: An investigation of a nationally representative sample

“…Greater levels of community violence and/or disorder, lower levels of social capital, and concentrated neighborhood disadvantage have been identified as risk factors for child abuse (Coulton et al, 2007;Coulton, Korbin, & Su, 1999;Coulton, Korbin, Su, & Chow, 1995;Freisthler, Merritt, & LaScala, 2006;Zuravin, 1989). These social processes directly and/or indirectly via individual characteristics (e.g., internal control, parenting stress) affected child maltreatment (Cao & Maguire-Jack, 2016;Freisthler & Maguire-Jack, 2015;Guterman, Lee, Taylor, & Rathouz, 2009;Kang, 2017;Molnar et al, 2016).…”