Stress, Social Support, and Substantiated Maltreatment in the Second and Third Years of Life

• NCJ Number: 170467
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 21 Issue: 11 Dated: (November 1997) Pages: 1025-1037
• Author(s): J B Kotch; D C Browne; C L Ringwalt; V Dufort; E Ruina; P W Stewart; J-W Jung
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): MCJ-37051; 90-CA1467
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services; US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study attempts to determine whether risk factors for a maltreatment report in the first year of life, especially the interaction of life event stress and social support, persist into the second and third years of life.

Abstract

Predominantly low-income mothers who had been interviewed in a longitudinal cohort shortly after giving birth were re-interviewed around the infants' first birthdays, and reports to North Carolina's Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect were tracked for substantiated maltreatment reports. Variables significantly associated with a substantiated maltreatment report in the second or third year of life were first year maltreatment reports and participation in Medicaid. Three interactions between a stressful life event indicator variable and a social support indicator variable were significant predictors of substantiated second or third year reports. The report concludes that, even in the presence of significant risk factors from the first year of life, life event stress can increase the risk of a substantiated maltreatment report in the second or third years of life, but social support may moderate the effect of life events. Tables, figure, references, appendix