Poster #150 - Maternal, Family and Contextual Risk Factors Associated With Child Neglect in a Low-Income Sample

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Child neglect is the most frequent form of maltreatment in Child Protection Services (CPS) cases (Hélie et al., 2017; U.S.DHHS 2018), and the one most closely linked with poverty (Sedlack et al., 2010). An increasing number of studies have investigated factors – other than income – associated with the risk of neglect (Clément et al., 2016; Logan-Greene & Semanchin-Jones, 2018; Shanahan et al., 2017; Yang & Maguire-Jack, 2016). However, they have yielded some divergent results and few of them compared neglected-only children to those victims of both neglect and abuse. The aims of this study are 1) to examine maternal, family and contextual factors associated with risk of child neglect, and 2) to identify factors that discriminate neglected-only children from those both neglected and abused.

Participants were 190 mother-child dyads (aged 4 to 6 years) from low-income families: 71 neglected children (according to CPS) and 119 non-maltreated. Maternal factors included mothers’ history of childhood neglect and abuse (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; Bernstein et al., 1994) and parenting stress (Parenting Stress Index; Abidin, 1995). Family and contextual factors included intimate partner violence (IPV) (Revised Conflict Tactics Scales; Straus et al., 1996), socio-demographic risk (ranging from 0-4; adolescent motherhood, no high-school diploma, receiving social welfare, single-parent status), frequency of contact with relatives (ranging from 0 [never] to 3 [frequently]), and stressful life events (Life Experiences Survey; Sarason et al., 1978).

Logistic regression examining mothers’ history of childhood maltreatment, parenting stress and family ecology in relation to child neglect indicated that the full model was significantly different from the constant-only model (see Table 1). Controlling for all other predictors in the model, one maternal and three family/contextual variables were significantly related to child neglect. Mother’s childhood history of neglect, but not abuse, was predictive of child’s neglect: children whose mothers had been neglected were almost three times more likely to be neglected than children whose mothers had no history of neglect (OR = 2.94). IPV was also a significant predictor. As the IPV score increased by one standard deviation, the odds of child neglect rose by 92%. Each additional socio-demographic risk also increased the odds of child neglect by 76%. Lastly, for each point increase in mothers’ frequency of contact with relatives, the odds of child neglect were reduced by 44%.

Another logistic regression was conducted on the subgroup of neglected children to predict the risk of children being victims of both neglect and abuse (compared to neglect only). The model with all the predictors did not reach statistical significance (see Table 2). However, one variable significantly discriminated children both neglected and abused from neglected-only children: with each additional stressful event, the odds of neglected children experiencing also abuse increased by 35%.

Supporting the ecological model of maltreatment (Belsky, 1993; Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993), results indicate that factors from the individual, family and contextual levels were associated with neglect. Findings further suggest that, with the exception of stressful events, neglected-only children and those who are both neglected and abused were exposed to similar risk factors.

Authors

• Diane St-Laurent, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
  Presenting Author

• Abigaëlle Gascon, UQTR
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marie-Ève Grisé Bolduc, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
  Non-Presenting Author

• Charlotte Urbain, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karine Dubois-Comtois, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tristan Milot, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
  Non-Presenting Author