On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The social isolation and economic stress resulting from pandemic have the potential to exacerbate child abuse and neglect. This study examines the association of parents’ perceived social isolation and recent employment loss to risk for child maltreatment (neglect, verbal aggression, and physical punishment) in the early weeks of the pandemic. Participants (N = 283) were adults living in the U.S. who were parents of at least one child 0–12 years of age. Participants completed an online survey approximately 2 weeks after the World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic. The survey asked about recent changes (i.e., in the past 2 weeks) to employment status, parenting behaviors, use of discipline, use of spanking, and depressive symptoms. Nearly 20% of parents had hit or spanked their child in the past two weeks alone. Parents’ perceived social isolation and recent employment loss were associated with self-report of physical and emotional neglect and verbal aggression against the child, even after controlling for parental depressive symptoms, income, and sociodemographic factors. Parents’ perceived social isolation was associated with parental report of changes in discipline, specifically, using discipline and spanking more often in the past 2 weeks. Associations were robust to analyses that included two variables that assessed days spent social distancing and days spent in “lockdown.” Study results point to the need for mental health supports to parents and children to ameliorate the strain created by COVID-19.

2020 年 3 月 11 日，COVID-19 被世界卫生组织宣布为大流行病。大流行造成的社会孤立和经济压力有可能加剧虐待和忽视儿童。本研究探讨了在大流行的最初几周，父母感知到的社会孤立和近期失业与虐待儿童的风险（忽视、言语攻击和体罚）之间的关系。参与者（N= 283) 是居住在美国的成年人，他们是至少一名 0-12 岁儿童的父母。在世界卫生组织宣布 COVID-19 为大流行病大约 2 周后，参与者完成了一项在线调查。该调查询问了最近（即过去两周）就业状况、育儿行为、纪律使用、打屁股的使用和抑郁症状的变化。仅在过去两周内，就有近 20% 的父母打过或打过他们的孩子。即使在控制了父母的抑郁症状、收入和社会人口因素之后，父母感知到的社会孤立和最近的失业与自我报告的身体和情感忽视以及对孩子的言语攻击有关。父母感知到的社会孤立与父母对纪律变化的报告有关，在过去 2 周内更频繁。关联对于包括两个变量的分析是稳健的，这些变量评估了社会疏远天数和“封锁”天数。研究结果表明需要为父母和孩子提供心理健康支持，以减轻 COVID-19 造成的压力。