Economic Conditions and Child Abuse
Date
2013
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Abstract
Although a huge literature spanning several disciplines documents an association between
poverty and child abuse, researchers have not found persuasive evidence that economic
downturns increase abuse, despite their impacts on family income. In this paper, we address
this seeming contradiction. Using county-level child abuse data spanning 1996 to 2009 from
the California Department of Justice, we estimate the extent to which a county’s reported
abuse rate diverges from its trend when its economic conditions diverge from trend,
controlling for statewide annual shocks. The results of this analysis indicate that overall
measures of economic conditions are not strongly related to rates of abuse. However,
focusing on overall measures of economic conditions masks strong opposing effects of
economic conditions facing males and females: male layoffs increase rates of abuse whereas
female layoffs reduce rates of abuse. These results are consistent with a theoretical
framework that builds on family-time-use models and emphasizes differential risks of abuse
associated with a child’s time spent with different caregivers. (Author Abstract)
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Keywords
child abuse, research, risk factors, income, financial hardship
Citation
Lindo, Jason M. ; Schaller, Jessamyn ; Hansen. (2013). Economic Conditions and Child Abuse. Institute for the Study of Labor, IZA Discussion Paper 7355.