Fishing in the same pool? Disadvantaged neighborhoods and the spatial overlap of child maltreatment referrals

Objectives:This paper aims to respond to two research questions: (1) do most child maltreatment referrals, both substantiated and unsubstantiated, come from the same neighborhoods? (2) Do substantiated and unsubstantiated... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives:

This paper aims to respond to two research questions: (1) do most child maltreatment referrals, both substantiated and unsubstantiated, come from the same neighborhoods? (2) Do substantiated and unsubstantiated child maltreatment referrals share the same neighborhood risk factors?

Method:

We used geocoded data from substantiated (N= 1635) and unsubstantiated (N= 844) child maltreatment referrals in the city of Valencia (Spain, 2004-2014). As the neighborhood proxy, we used 552 census block groups. Neighborhood characteristics analyzed at the aggregated level (census block groups) were: Neighborhood socioeconomic status, immigration concentration, residential instability, and public disorder and crime. To study the geographical distribution and the overlap of child maltreatment referrals a Bayesian joint modeling approach was used. To analyze the influence of neighborhood-level characteristics on small-area variations of substantiated and unsubstantiated child maltreatment referrals we used a Bayesian random-effects modeling approach. Areas of excess risk and the overlap between substantiated and unsubstantiated child maltreatment referrals are illustrated.

Results:

For substantiated child maltreatment referrals, .89% of the total between-area variation in risk is captured by the shared component, while for unsubstantiated child maltreatment referrals the shared component was .87%. The correlation between substantiated and unsubstantiated child maltreatment risks was .80. The risk of child maltreatment referrals was higher in neighborhoods characterized by low levels of socioeconomic and educational status, and high levels of immigrant concentration and high levels of public disorder and crime.

Conclusions: 

Child maltreatment referrals, regardless of whether they are substantiated or unsubstantiated, overlap in the same disadvantaged neighborhoods. This indicates that the risk of child maltreatment is higher in these neighborhoods, but it also suggests that in these neighborhoods families are at a higher risk of being investigated by child protective services suggesting a potential reporting bias.