OBJECTIVES In cases of child neglect, intervention depends on accurate identification and reporting. Prior work has shown that individuals, especially those of high socioeconomic status (SES), conflate poverty and neglect when making identification and reporting decisions. The COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in people's experiences with poverty, likely influencing their ability to distinguish poverty in families and neglectful parenting. HYPOTHESES Two studies tested the impact of COVID-19 on laypersons' perceptions of neglect, likelihood of reporting neglect, and attributions of blame for neglect. We hypothesized that laypersons would conflate poverty with neglect, that COVID-19 would be associated with a decreased likelihood of doing so, and that attributions of blame would mediate the latter tendency. METHOD Adults read vignettes about a mother's care of her daughter and responded to questions about the mother's neglectfulness and their reporting likelihood. Study 1 (N = 676, Mage = 38.80, 48.08% women) compared responses collected before COVID-19 (August 2018) to responses from a separate set of adults collected during COVID-19 (November-December 2020). Study 2 (N = 704, Mage = 43.88, 63.49% women) manipulated mention of COVID-19 to assess whether cuing the pandemic affected identification and reporting, and measured attributions of blame to assess whether they explained the relation between COVID-19 and perceptions of neglect. RESULTS Whereas most laypersons distinguished situations with versus without neglect, some conflated poverty with neglect when making identification and reporting decisions. However, COVID-19 did not have a direct impact on identification or reporting decisions. Attributions of blame partially explained laypersons' perceptions of situations as neglectful and as warranting reporting. Laypersons' current SES and perceptions of COVID-19 in 2020 were positively associated with identification and reporting. CONCLUSIONS Laypersons in part mistake poverty for neglect, and COVID-19 had indirect effects on perceptions of neglect and reporting decisions. Public education efforts may help improve identification of vulnerable children by laypersons. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行以及人们对贫困和忽视的看法。

目标 在儿童忽视的情况下，干预取决于准确的识别和报告。先前的工作表明，个人，尤其是社会经济地位高的人 (SES)，在做出识别和报告决定时会将贫困和忽视混为一谈。COVID-19 大流行导致人们的贫困经历发生了变化，可能会影响他们区分家庭贫困和忽视养育子女的能力。假设 两项研究测试了 COVID-19 对非专业人士对忽视的看法、报告忽视的可能性以及对忽视的责任归属的影响。我们假设外行人会将贫困与忽视混为一谈，COVID-19 与这样做的可能性降低有关，而归咎于责备会调解后一种趋势。方法 成人阅读有关母亲照顾女儿的小插曲，并回答有关母亲疏忽和报告可能性的问题。研究 1（N = 676，Mage = 38.80，48.08% 的女性）将 COVID-19（2018 年 8 月）之前收集的反应与 COVID-19（2020 年 11 月至 2020 年 12 月）期间收集的另一组成年人的反应进行了比较。研究 2（N = 704，法师 = 43.88，63.49% 女性）操纵提及 COVID-19 以评估提示大流行是否影响识别和报告，并测量责任归因以评估它们是否解释了 COVID-19 与感知之间的关系的忽视。结果 尽管大多数非专业人士会区分有无忽视的情况，但有些人在做出识别和报告决定时将贫困与忽视混为一谈。然而，COVID-19 对识别或报告决定没有直接影响。责备的归因部分解释了外行对情况的看法是疏忽和值得报告的。外行人当前的 SES 和 2020 年对 COVID-19 的看法与识别和报告呈正相关。结论 外行人在一定程度上将贫困误认为是忽视，而 COVID-19 对忽视和报告决定的看法有间接影响。公共教育工作可能有助于提高非专业人士对弱势儿童的识别能力。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。当前的 SES 和 2020 年对 COVID-19 的看法与识别和报告呈正相关。结论 外行人在一定程度上将贫困误认为是忽视，而 COVID-19 对忽视和报告决定的看法有间接影响。公共教育工作可能有助于提高非专业人士对弱势儿童的识别能力。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。当前的 SES 和 2020 年对 COVID-19 的看法与识别和报告呈正相关。结论 外行人在一定程度上将贫困误认为是忽视，而 COVID-19 对忽视和报告决定的看法有间接影响。公共教育工作可能有助于提高非专业人士对弱势儿童的识别能力。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。