Zip Codes and Child Maltreatment: An Examination of Housing and Neighborhood Effects

Background and Purpose: Child maltreatment is an oft-studied topic, with examinations of multiple variables and their relationship to maltreatment; neighborhoods and housing factors (i.e., rates of homeownership), however, have received relatively limited attention in the maltreatment literature. This study examines the relationship between neighborhood & housing variables and child maltreatment, in an attempt to better understand the impact of community-level variables on maltreatment.

Methods: Public access data from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the United States Census Bureau were analyzed.  The sample was limited to zip codes with 50 or more reports of alleged maltreatment, which ultimately represented approximately 25% of the zip codes in Illinois. Neighborhood variables included the following: poverty, overcrowding (indicated by more than one person per room), percentage of income dedicated to rent, and percentage of homeownership.  Maltreatment variables included rates of physical abuse and/or neglect, rates of sexual abuse, and the percentage of children in state custody. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine the data.

Results: Poverty rates were found to have a strong relationship to maltreatment, which is consistent with longstanding findings in child maltreatment literature.  However, more revealing were the levels of significance found among the housing variables.  Children were at significant risk of experiencing maltreatment when they lived in overcrowded dwellings.  The strength of this relationship was almost as strong (.601**) as the poverty variable (.644**). Children were also at higher risk of maltreatment in households where the rent exceeded 35% of household income (.359**). Homeownership was negatively correlated with all three maltreatment categories and was among the strongest housing variables in predicting substantiation of physical abuse and/or neglect, protective custody and substantiated sexual abuse (-.446**, -.535** and -.431** respectively). 

Conclusions and Implications: Low income families experience a host of financial crises and stressors, with their largest and most fixed costs related to housing.  When families must pay 30% or more of their income toward housing, this dramatically restricts financial choices and options, and, most likely, has an attending impact on familial relationships and privacy. This can also lead to families doubling up or moving into spaces that are too small for their family size.  Housing overcrowding is the strongest housing indicator of maltreatment.  This finding speaks to the importance of advocating for housing policy that protects children. For example, in an effort to alleviate the strains of overcrowding and high rents, an expansion of Section 8 subsidies could potentially result in decreased rates of neighborhood maltreatment. Additionally, promotion of homeownership programs for the poor could also have an impact on maltreatment rates, as when families own homes, they have more control over their surroundings and stronger senses of self efficacy. Finally, since these issues overlap in neighborhood areas, resources for housing and neighborhood stability would allow public and private social services to focus on key neighborhoods.  Given these relationships, stronger housing supports would assist families in critical ways and potentially decrease rates of maltreatment.