Income, Employment, and Child Maltreatment: Does Household Income Buffer the Effect of Maternal Employment on Maltreatment Risk?

Background: Previous research suggests that maternal employment is associated with increased risk of child maltreatment and substandard parenting, particularly among single-parent families. But the positive relationship between employment and maltreatment is complicated by other findings indicating that household income may be protective against maltreatment risk. Increases in household income have been associated with decreased risk of child maltreatment, particularly neglect, and there is some evidence of a causal relationship. The opposing direction of effects for income and employment on maltreatment risk presents a challenge for programs and policies that support working single mothers whose children may be at risk of maltreatment. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that there is little empirical research to guide our understanding of the relationship among income, work, and maltreatment. We add to this literature by investigating whether income earned from work protects against any risk stemming from employment itself for low-income families. Additionally, we examine whether earned income functions differently than economic support income.

Methods: We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort study of approximately 5,000 children in 20 U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. We use three waves of the Fragile Families Study’s survey of mothers from child ages 3, 5, and 9. Using items from the Parent-Child Conflict Tactic Scales, we create dichotomous measures of neglect and abuse risk, indicating families at or above the 90^th percentile on the additive CTS scale. A dichotomous variable indicates whether mothers reported working for pay in the previous week. We measure annual income as total household earned income. To capture total household finances, we estimate income support using indicators for TANF or SNAP receipt, and estimate federal EITC receipt using TAXSIM.  We include a robust panel of covariates including household composition, family size, education, and mother’s ethnicity. Using interaction terms to examine the effect of income and employment status, we estimate pooled OLS and fixed effects models.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that increased income is associated with reduced risk of both child abuse and neglect, particularly for single mothers. The magnitude of our findings is significant; a 1% increase in income is associated with a 5% decrease in neglect risk. While working is not associated with physical abuse risk, it is associated with a significantly higher probability of child neglect. Finally, both EITC and work income appear to have a similar protective function; both income sources reduce the risk of child neglect for working mothers.

Implications: While income from work can be protective against maltreatment risk from working, our findings suggest that workers at the lower end of the income distribution – those eligible for the EITC – are at greater risk for maltreatment. As the social safety net requires work, the EITC is an important policy as its role in increasing income for at-risk families. Our results should encourage policymakers interested in preventing child maltreatment among working people in boosting income supports to working people, given EITC’s role in increasing the income of vulnerable workers.