Neighborhood characteristics and violence behind closed doors: The spatial overlap of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence

Abstract

In this study, we analyze first whether there is a common spatial distribution of child maltreatment (CM) and intimate partner violence (IPV), and second, whether the risks of CM and IPV are influenced by the same neighborhood characteristics, and if these risks spatially overlap. To this end we used geocoded data of CM referrals (N = 588) and IPV incidents (N = 1450) in the city of Valencia (Spain). As neighborhood proxies, we used 552 census block groups. Neighborhood characteristics analyzed at the aggregated level (census block groups) were: Neighborhood concentrated disadvantage (neighborhood economic status, neighborhood education level, and policing activity), immigrant concentration, and residential instability. A Bayesian joint modeling approach was used to examine the spatial distribution of CM and IPV, and a Bayesian random-effects modeling approach was used to analyze the influence of neighborhood-level characteristics on small-area variations of CM and IPV risks. For CM, 98% of the total between-area variation in risk was captured by a shared spatial component, while for IPV the shared component was 77%. The risks of CM and IPV were higher in neighborhoods characterized by lower levels of economic status and education, and higher levels of policing activity, immigrant concentration, and residential instability. The correlation between the log relative risk of CM and IPV was .85. Most census block groups had either low or high risks in both outcomes (with only 10.5% of the areas with mismatched risks). These results show that certain neighborhood characteristics are associated with an increase in the risk of family violence, regardless of whether this violence is against children or against intimate partners. Identifying these high-risk areas can inform a more integrated community-level response to both types of family violence. Future research should consider a community-level approach to address both types of family violence, as opposed to individual-level intervention addressing each type of violence separately.

An Integrated Public Health Approach to Interpersonal Violence and Suicide Prevention and Response

“…Advanced statistical methods are necessary to better understand causal pathways and effect mediators at the family, community, and policy levels of the socio-ecological framework, as well as of the mechanisms by which interventions exert their impact. Ecological, multilevel, and spatial analysis can clarify the geographic and social distribution of violent events 59,185,186 and identify the social and community conditions under which interventions and policies can be most effective.…”

Violence against children and intimate partner violence against women: overlap and common contributing factors among caregiver-adolescent dyads

“…Yet, the vast majority of research and practice have focused on women and children separately [5,8], with few empirical studies on the connection or intersection of the two types of violence. Studies that do exist are primarily from high income countries and report that IPV and VAC often occur within the same families [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and neighborhoods [24], increasing risk of negative health effects [4,17,[25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

“…At an interpersonal level, social information processing conceptualizes the use of both types of violence due to attitudes accepting the use of violence in close relationships [36]. Intersecting violence may also be considered from a social disorganization theory perspective, where concentrated neighborhood disadvantage contributes to the occurrence of both IPV and VAC [24]. Other recent studies on intersecting IPV and VAC drawn upon a feminist framework, which contextualizes family violence and attitudes accepting violence in personal relationships within broader gender and power hierarchies [37,38].…”

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and mHealth: The Frontiers of the Prevention of Violence Against Children

“…Their approach could be used to improve detection of ecological variations in risk for child maltreatment, and to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives aimed at addressing risk (Gracia et al, 2017 ). The same authors later analyzed whether there was a common spatial distribution of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence and whether the risks of both forms of violence were influenced by the same neighborhood characteristics, and if these risks spatially overlapped (Gracia et al, 2018 ). Their model showed that certain neighborhood characteristics are associated with an increase in the risk of family violence, including both violence against children and against intimate partners (Gracia et al, 2018 ).…”