Different Slopes for Different Folks? Diminishing Minority Returns in Child Maltreatment Reporting and Placement

Background and Purpose: The strong relationship between economic stressors and child maltreatment is widely acknowledged in child maltreatment research. However, the nuances of this relationship across various racial and ethnic groups remain underexplored. Findings from the medical field indicate that race and ethnicity moderate this relationship; improvements in economic status are associated with smaller gains in various health outcomes for Black and Hispanic individuals compared to White individuals. This phenomenon, termed “diminished minority returns” (DMR), has yet to be explored or well-articulated in the context of child maltreatment epidemiology. However, there are multiple available empirical works which provide data about the various relationships between economic status and child maltreatment across different racial/ethnic groups. Drawing on the results of these studies, we ask “does the relationship between income and child maltreatment vary across race/ethnicity”?

Methods: We have identified empirical studies within the past 15 years, each using unique samples, that provide rates of child maltreatment based on economic status, categorized by race/ethnicity. These studies use state-level, national (US) and international samples. In each study, we calculate separate “slopes” for White, Black, and Hispanic populations to present the change in child maltreatment rate corresponding to the same amount of change in economic status. We then compute “change ratios” (CR) by dividing the slopes for White populations by those for Black and Hispanic populations. This metric was chosen as it offers an easily understandable means to compare DMR effects across various studies. Slopes are also plotted in a graphic figure for each study to allow for side-by-side visual inspection.

Results: Twelve articles meet our criteria. Each study employs different definitions of economic status (e.g. household income or insurance status), child maltreatment or risk (e.g. official report, ACES score), data sources (e.g. administrative or survey), and their levels of analysis (e.g. individual or county level). Across these studies, it is consistently found that White children experience a greater reduction in child maltreatment risk from the same economic improvement than do Black and Hispanic children (CR’s >1). Figures are provided representing the studies reviewed, which clearly illustrate “steeper” slopes for White children. In poorer economic groups, White populations often show higher maltreatment risk than Black and Hispanic populations. In wealthier economic groups, Black populations tend to show the higher risk than White and Hispanic populations.

Conclusions and Implications: DMR is well established in the health literature. Similar effects are present in the child maltreatment literature. Unfortunately, there is no consensus in either literature as to why these effects exist. Possible explanations include increased costs to minorities who have to overcome interlocking systemic forces of oppression in order to succeed or who are more likely to move into unfamiliar and challenging contexts as they advance economically. Importantly, our findings do not suggest that providing material support to minority families is any less valuable than offering similar material support to White families. Instead, our findings highlight the intricate and historically longstanding needs of these communities that may not be fully met through short-term, narrowly focused interventions alone.