Maltreatment in Early Childhood: The Role of Neighborhood Disorganization and Parental Corporal Punishment

Background and Purpose:

 Research indicates that abusive parenting practices are more common in neighborhoods with social disorganization that are characterized by low levels of collective efficacy (Kim & Maguire-Jack, 2013) and among families that use corporal punishment (Lee, Grogan-Kaylor, & Berger, 2014; Patterson, 1982). It has also been posited that parenting in disorganized neighborhoods tend to be more negative, leading to more frequent corporal punishment (Burton & Jarrett, 2000). Yet, researchers have yet to simultaneously explore the complex roles of both neighborhood processes and child discipline practices as markers of child maltreatment. This study aims to fill this gap by measuring the combined effects of collective efficacy and corporal punishment on child maltreatment, and by testing the hypothesis that neighborhood effects on maltreatment are explained by a greater tendency among residents of neighborhoods with low levels of collective efficacy to use corporal punishment.

 Method:

 We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort study that oversampled unmarried families. We employed sequential mixed effects logistic regression models—Model 1 tested the effects of collective efficacy on Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement, Model 2 added the effects of corporal punishment to the previous model, and Model 3 added demographics, maternal depression, and neighborhood income. Additionally, we examined whether collective efficacy indirectly influenced CPS involvement using the product of coefficients approach (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Finally, predicted probabilities of CPS involvement depending on corporal punishment were calculated for a more intuitive interpretation. Our analysis was based on 2,449 families in Wave 3 (age 3) and Wave 4 (age 5) interviews. Mothers’ self-report at Wave 4 of whether CPS contacted the family (yes/no) following the Wave 3 interview was used to measure CPS involvement. Collective efficacy and parental corporal punishment were based on mothers’ self-report at Wave 3.

 Results:

 For a unit increase in collective efficacy, the odds of CPS involvement decreased from 0.22 times in Model 1 to 0.20 times in Model 2, indicating a mediation effect through corporal punishment. The effects of collective efficacy on CPS involvement was not significant in Model 3. Corporal punishment at age 3 predicted a 66% greater likelihood of CPS involvement between the ages 3 to 5 (OR = 1.66, 95% CI [1.15, 2.41], p < .01), after holding collective efficacy and covariates constant. In terms of the mediation analysis, the significant indirect effect and non-significant total effect from bootstrap replications indicated that the influences of collective efficacy on CPS involvement operate through its effect on corporal punishment. On average, corporal punishment at age 3 increased the predicted probabilities of CPS involvement between ages 3 to 5 by 3.3 percentage points, from 4.8% to 8.1%.

 Implications:

 These findings suggest the importance of promoting non-physical discipline practices among parents at-risk for maltreating their children. Additionally, the significant indirect effect of collective efficacy through parental corporal punishment points to the need for community interventions and parenting education programs that address the ways in which neighborhood stressors affect parenting practices, particularly use of corporal punishment.