Public Perceptions of Child Maltreatment

Purpose: The public view of child abuse and neglect plays a key role in determining an individual’s willingness to report cases of child maltreatment. Child maltreatment cases often go unreported. Nonprofessionals are critical reporters as Dhooper et al. (1991) note the “voluntary reporting of possible abuse or neglect by the general public is the sine qua non, all other methods of case finding are too late and too little.” Yet, we know very little about public attitudes and behaviors concerning child abuse. The present study focuses on examining current public opinions of child maltreatment using an innovative survey collection method. 

Methods: The data were obtained from a representative sample of adults from the United States.  The participants were drawn from the pool of US amazon Turk workers (this is a crowdsourcing internet marketplace where individuals can perform tasks like completing surveys). The amazon Turk pool is often more representative of the US population than in-person or phone samples. By using this methodology we were able to collect data on a larger and more representative sample than previous research. The sample included a diverse pool of 996 persons residing in the United States.

The survey included questions that measure individual’s knowledge concerning child maltreatment (The person accused of child abuse is entitled to know who reported the suspected abuse), Concerns regarding the reporting of child maltreatment (I would not be comfortable invading another person’s privacy), judgments about the best services to prevent child maltreatment; how child maltreatment ranks in importance to other social problems (homelessness); perceptions regarding the government’s role in child abuse (I believe the government intervention in cases of child abuse is too much); factors considered most important in affecting child abuse; intentions regarding the reporting of child abuse (It would be easy or difficult for me to report a case of child abuse or neglect;  and actions (Would you call CPS if you knew a child that experienced abuse?)

Results: The public had knowledge about how the child maltreatment reporting system works. Most respondents reported it would be easy to report a case of child abuse (M=2.1 on a 7 point scale) but not a case of emotional abuse (M=3.91). Mental health services were ranked as having the most impact on child maltreatment while home visitation was considered to have the least impact. The strongest deterrent to reporting child maltreatment was “not having enough time that reporting might take.” Child abuse was ranked the second highest social problem facing the country behind poor education (M=5.9). 82.6% indicated they would consider donating 2 dollars of state income tax refund to prevent child abuse.

Implications: This study provides greater understanding of the public’s knowledge and attitudes toward child maltreatment. Community efforts to enhance public education and understanding can be strengthened by studying how the public perceives social problems like child abuse. Furthermore, efforts to increase public surveillance of child maltreatment can be improved using these findings.