Session: Pathways from Neighborhood Characteristics to Child Maltreatment: Using Structural Equation Modeling to Decipher Between Direct and Indirect Effects (Society for Social Work and Research 20th Annual Conference - Grand Challenges for Social Work: Setting a Research Agenda for the Future)

Theme:  This symposium focuses on studies that utilize structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine mediators from neighborhood characteristics to child maltreatment behaviors.  The essence of this symposium is to ask not only “what?” but also “why?”  We accomplish this by moving past simply examining whether certain characteristics and processes within neighborhoods are associated with maltreatment but taking a step further to estimate the specific mechanisms through which these factors relate to abuse and neglect.

Two studies use data from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW), with one examining neighborhood collective efficacy (social cohesion and social control), neighborhood disorder, and community participation and their direct effects on child maltreatment, as well as their indirect effects through personal control and parenting stress.  The second FFCW study focuses on an at-risk population of single mothers and examines the mediating role of parenting stress from neighborhood collective efficacy to physical child abuse.  The remaining two studies rely on data from Franklin County, OH.  The first examines the mediating roles of parent depression, parenting stress, and social support in the relationship between neighborhood social cohesion and physical child abuse, verbal abuse, and neglect.  The second examines the intersection between individual economic hardship and neighborhood poverty and their direct impacts on child abuse and neglect as well as their indirect effects through parenting stress.

Background: A growing body of research has documented a link between neighborhood conditions and child maltreatment, including neighborhood poverty, unemployment, and availability of alcohol.  Additionally, certain neighborhood processes that have long been linked to rates of crime and violence have also been found to be associated with child maltreatment, including neighborhood social cohesion (mutual trust among neighbors) and social control (willingness to intervene for the common good).  However, little is known about why these neighborhood factors might play a role in parenting behaviors.  This symposium seeks to fill this gap in knowledge by specifically examining the pathways through which the neighborhood conditions relate to child maltreatment.  All four studies use SEM to explicitly examine the theorized mediators.

Significance:  Understanding the pathways through which neighborhood characteristics and processes are associated with child maltreatment is crucial for advancing our knowledge about the specific mechanisms through which these factors can alter behavior.  Such knowledge is critical for creating a theory of change for intervention programs.  Additionally, it provides direction as to specific intervention components.  For example, one of the studies found that social cohesion was associated with lower levels of maltreatment, and this was partially mediated by lower parenting stress.  An intervention seeking to increase social cohesion might consider creating opportunities for parents to gather such as respite from child rearing responsibilities, to simultaneously increase cohesion among neighbors as well as decrease parent stress.