The Ecology of Child Abuse and Neglect: Review of the Literature and Presentation of Data

This report assesses current knowledge about the ecological determinants of child maltreatment and presents data from an aggregate study of co-variation between seven community characteristics and maltreatment rates. A review of these findings revealed literature in the early stages of development. Nothing is known about the ecology of sexual abuse, and studies of physical abuse and neglect have done little more than demonstrate co-variation between reported incidence and neighborhood population and housing characteristics. Study findings reveal that (a) five of the seven community characteristics are significant and independent correlates of neglect, and four are correlates of abuse; (b) the strongest predictors of both types of maltreatment are percentage of families with income less than 200% of poverty and percent of vacant housing; and (c) the pattern of co-variation between the two economic stress indicators and three inadequate social support indicators are consistent with the ecological hypothesis. Discussion focuses on interpretation of findings and recommendations for future research.