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Title: Economic Analyses of Child Abuse and Neglect
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Berger, Lawrence Marc |
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Economic Analyses of Child Abuse and Neglect Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 2002. DAI-A 63/03, p. 1130, Sep 2002 Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Benefits; Childhood Residence; Family Structure; Family Studies; Foster Care; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Income; Parents, Single; Poverty; Punishment, Corporal; Social Work; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Welfare Despite firmly established relationships between socioeconomic factors and child maltreatment in the U.S., microeconomic approaches to understanding child abuse and neglect have yet to be developed and researchers have only recently begun to study the effects of various economic policies on child maltreatment rates. This dissertation presents three free-standing papers which offer theoretical and empirical models for better understanding the effects of family structure, income, poverty, and public policies on child maltreatment and children's living arrangements. The first paper estimates the existence and strength of relationships between income, family characteristics, state characteristics, and physical violence toward children using data from the 1985 National Family Violence Survey. Results suggest that, in both single-parent and two-parent families, race/ethnicity, depression, maternal alcohol consumption, and history of family violence affect children's probabilities of being physically abused. Additionally, income is significantly related to violence toward children in single-parent families. The second paper uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to explore the effects of income and poverty, family structure, and public policies on seven indicators of child maltreatment. Results suggest that these factors differentially affect the outcome measures. Income and poverty impact routine medical and dental care, the quality of the caregiving environment, and spanking behaviors. Single-parent families and families with a biological mother and non-biological father figure are found to have lower quality caregiving environments than mother-father families. This analysis also provides some tentative evidence that higher welfare benefit levels and lower unemployment rates serve as protective factors for children. The third paper uses data from the NLSY to estimate the effects of income and poverty, family structure, and income support polici es on the probabilities that children are living in various out-of-home settings. Results suggest that lower-income, single-parent, and mother-partner families are more likely to have children living out-of-home in a given year. Higher AFDC/TANF benefits are associated with decreases in the probability that a family has a child living in a child welfare service setting, but increases in the probability that a family has a child living with relatives. Higher foster care payments are associated with increases in out-of-home placements. |
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Bibliography Citation
Berger, Lawrence Marc. Economic Analyses of Child Abuse and Neglect. Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 2002. DAI-A 63/03, p. 1130, Sep 2002. |