Co-occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence: Examining Both Neglect and Child Physical Abuse

• NCJ Number: 197467
• Journal: Child Maltreatment Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 349-358
• Author(s): Carolyn Copps Hartley
• Editor(s): Mark Chaffin
• Date Published: November 2002
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This exploratory study attempted to expand the understanding of the differences between families in which only child maltreatment was present and families experiencing both child maltreatment and domestic violence.

Abstract

There is growing attention to the overlap between child maltreatment and domestic violence. However, few studies have examined the characteristics of families in which both domestic violence and child maltreatment were present. This study examined the co-occurrence of domestic violence with both neglect and child physical abuse through an examination of differences in demographic characteristics, parental problems, and maltreatment characteristics for families involving physical abuse or neglect and woman battering compared to families with the same type of maltreatment with no known woman battering present. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional sample of all confirmed child maltreatment reports made to the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) between 1995 and 1998. Descriptive analyses showed that the co-occurrence had more single-parent households, fewer married parents, fewer fathers biologically related to all children in the home, older mothers and children, more mothers with a history of alcohol and drug use and mental health problems, and more mother-only perpetrators compared to the maltreatment-only neglect families. Analyses looking at the association or interaction between the type of maltreatment and the presence of domestic violence found that marital status, the father’s biological relationship to the children, mother as perpetrator, and the age of the children were differentially related to the type of maltreatment. Study data limitations are discussed. The findings show that the factors that differentiate co-occurrence of maltreatment and domestic violence families from child maltreatment-only families differ for neglect and child physical abuse. Tables and references