Exploring the Area-Level Link Between Poverty and Different Types of Child Maltreatment: Is Neglect the Most Pronounced?

Abstract

We investigated whether poverty is primarily associated with neglect while showing weaker links to other forms of child maltreatment at the zip code level. To do this, we analyzed relationships between child poverty rates and maltreatment report rates for neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse across all Illinois zip codes from 2014 to 2018 (N = 1354). Our analysis showed that the unstandardized effect sizes for neglect were larger than those for physical and sexual abuse, primarily due to the higher prevalence of neglect reports, which leads to a larger absolute change. However, because unstandardized effect sizes are influenced by the prevalence of outcomes, they are not ideal for comparing the strength of relationships. In contrast, standardized effect sizes, which are not affected by outcome prevalence, were consistently strong and nearly identical across all maltreatment types. This indicates that the relationship between area-level poverty rates and maltreatment report rates is similarly strong for neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, rather than being notably stronger for neglect. Practically, this suggests that efforts to reduce child maltreatment in impoverished areas should encompass all types of abuse, rather than focusing primarily on neglect.