Suffering in silence: How COVID-19 school closures inhibit the reporting of child maltreatment

Barón, Enrique; Goldstein, Ezra G.; Wallace, Cullen T.

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104258

Cited by 240 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

152

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The results of this study must be replicated with longitudinal research. Although parents’ self-report of maltreatment risk behaviors may be subject to self-report and recall biases, parental self-report may be more reliable than administrative records during a time when school personnel, who make the highest percentage of reports to child protection agencies (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020 ), are largely unable to identify and report suspected cases of maltreatment (Baron et al, 2020 ; Jonson-Reid et al, 2020 ). Future research should consider protective factors and resilience when examining maltreatment risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Social Isolation and Child Maltreatment Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The social isolation and economic stress resulting from pandemic have the potential to exacerbate child abuse and neglect. This study examines the association of parents' perceived social isolation and recent employment loss to risk for child maltreatment (neglect, verbal aggression, and physical punishment) in the early weeks of the pandemic. Participants (N = 283) were adults living in the U.S. who were parents of at least one child 0-12 years of age. Participants completed an online survey approximately 2 weeks after the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic. The survey asked about recent changes (i.e., in the past 2 weeks) to employment status, parenting behaviors, use of discipline, use of spanking, and depressive symptoms. Nearly 20% of parents had hit or spanked their child in the past two weeks alone. Parents' perceived social isolation and recent employment loss were associated with self-report of physical and emotional neglect and verbal aggression against the child, even after controlling for parental depressive symptoms, income, and sociodemographic factors. Parents' perceived social isolation was associated with parental report of changes in discipline, specifically, using discipline and spanking more often in the past 2 weeks. Associations were robust to analyses that included two variables that assessed days spent social distancing and days spent in "lockdown." Study results point to the need for mental health supports to parents and children to ameliorate the strain created by COVID-19. Keywords Coronavirus . Global health crisis . Child neglect . Physical abuse . Child abuse . Parent-child conflict tactics scales . Physical punishment . Spank . Discipline . Parental depression On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2020a). On March 16, 2020, the U.S. White House issued social distancing guidelines which instructed Americans to stay home if they feel sick, to work or engage in school from home, and to avoid social gatherings of more than ten people (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 2020). The economic stress and social isolation created by societal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have potential to exacerbate child abuse and neglect, via widely acknowledged mechanisms linked to child maltreatmentspecifically unemployment and economic strain, social isolation, and parental depression.By every measure, prior to the pandemic, child maltreatment was a major public health crisis in the U.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental Social Isolation and Child Maltreatment Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although research on the psychosocial and educational consequences of school closures is still sparse, recent observations point to how vulnerable learners such as those with refugee or migrant background (especially those with former adverse experiences) might be severely negatively impacted by school closures (Fegert et al, 2020;Ritz et al, 2020;UNESCO, 2020a), further exacerbating existing inequalities in educational systems and societies in general (Kollender & Nimer, 2020). There are also growing concerns about a rise in domestic violence (WHO, 2020), affecting children both directly and indirectly, as well as a possible rise in unreported child maltreatment as a consequence of school closures (Baron et al, 2020;Fegert et al, 2020;Ritz et al, 2020;UNESCO, 2020a). In the context of distance learning for refugee and migrant children and youth during school closure, challenges such as technology and language barriers, lack of parental resources and housing conditions have been reported (Jawad, 2020;Yang, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst we fully recognize the necessity of pandemic mitigation measuress and efforts, these emerging findings highlight the need to further unpack the consequences of school closure on the lives of children and young people, and how these could be mitigated (cf. Baron et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2020;Viner et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020aWang et al, , 2020b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them’: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark

Primdahl

Borsch

Verelst

et al. 2020

Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Teachers play a critical role in providing social and emotional support for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners. Such care ordinarily takes place in the classroom, raising questions about the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 school closures on their care work. In this article we analyze qualitative data from phone interviews with eight teachers in Danish preparatory classes, paying particular attention to the challenges they faced staying in contact with, and supporting, migrant and refugee learners during the school closure. The interviews were coded and thematically analysed, revealing significant changes in the teachers' care work. We draw on the concepts of caringscapes and carescapes to unravel how the shifts in space, from physical copresence in the school classroom to distance learning, affected their care work. Despite many efforts, teachers reported difficulties staying in contact with the learners remotely due to their limited access to virtual communication platforms and language barriers. These communication difficulties and the lack of bodily copresence not only made teaching highly challenging, but interrupted their care work, including maintaining daily schedules and facilitating social closeness between learners. Furthermore, the teachers expressed concern about their inability to link and refer the most vulnerable learners to external support services, which were temporarily closed due to the societal lockdown. Our study highlights how COVID-19 induced school closures constrain the care work of teachers of migrant and refugee learners. The concerns and struggles raised in this article not only stress the importance of the physical school space and closeness in facilitating care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners, but signal the vulnerabilities of this group of children during times of crisis.

show abstract

“…Social distancing and lockdown measures may also further the suffering of the most vulnerable (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). Indeed, increased rates of poverty (Van Lancker & Parolin, 2020) and child abuse (Baron et al, 2020;Griffith, 2020) have already been reported during the pandemic. Domestic abuse and family violence have also been reported as increasing dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic (Bradbury -Jones & Isham, 2020;Campbell, 2020;Humphreys et al, 2020;Mazza et al, 2020;Piquero et al 2020;Usher et al, 2020;Xue et al, 2020).…”

Section: Covid-19 and Its Impacts On Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australian Strategic Partnerships in Remote Education

Nietschke¹

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This literature review provides an overview of past and present responses to remote schooling in Australia, drawing on international research. The paper begins by discussing historical responses to emergency and extended schooling, including during the COVID-19 crisis. The discussion then focuses on effective teaching and learning practices and different learning design models. The review considers the available evidence on technology-based interventions and their use during remote schooling periods. Although this research is emergent, it offers insights into the availability and suitability of different mechanisms that can be used in remote learning contexts. Noting that the local empirical research base is limited, the discussion focuses on the ways in which Australia has drawn upon international best practices in remote schooling in order to enhance teaching and learning experiences. The paper concludes by discussing the conditions that can support effective remote schooling in different contexts, and the considerations that must be made around schooling during and post pandemic.

show abstract

Suffering in silence: How COVID-19 school closures inhibit the reporting of child maltreatment

Cited by 240 publications

References 39 publications

Parental Social Isolation and Child Maltreatment Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Parental Social Isolation and Child Maltreatment Risk during the COVID-19 Pandemic

‘It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them’: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark

Australian Strategic Partnerships in Remote Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About