NCJ Number
164438
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1996) Pages: 205-218
Date Published
1996
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Statewide data from the Missouri Division of Family Services were used to determine possible relationships between days on which professional sports events were held and daily rates of substantiated physical abuse of children by males.
Abstract
The research site was St. Louis. The researchers chose professional hockey as the sport to study due to its 80-game season and the lack of a professional football team in the St. Louis area. The analysis focused on three hypotheses about possible relationships between hockey and rates of child abuse. One hypothesis focused on national playoff games; the second, on home-team games; and the third, on wins and losses. Hierarchical multiple regressions tested for these relationships. The effects were controlled for the month in which the child abuse occurred and the day of the week during which the incident occurred. Results did not support the hypothesis that sporting events produce increases in the number of substantiated child abuse cases in which the male is the perpetrator. Tables and 23 references (Author abstract modified)