Background and objective

Studies have confirmed that income inequality is associated with compromised health and well-being. However, much less is known about the effects of county-level income inequality on risk of perpetrating child maltreatment, particularly for distinct types of child maltreatment. By utilizing recent national data over 10 years (2009–2018), our study explored the associations of county-level income inequality (i.e., Gini index and income quantile ratios) with child maltreatment rates, including both overall and specific types of maltreatment rates (i.e., physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and neglect) in the US.

Participants and setting

We utilized data from approximately 902 US counties by linking the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System with the American Community Survey.

Methods

Ordinary Least Squares regression models were estimated to examine the relationship between county-level income inequality and child maltreatment rates and the moderating role of poverty rates.

Results

Higher scores on county-level Gini index were significantly associated with higher overall child maltreatment rates and neglect, after controlling for county-level characteristics. Income quantile ratios were significantly associated with overall child maltreatment, physical abuse, and neglect. We also found significant interaction effects between income inequality and poverty rates in the associations with physical and psychological abuse rates, suggesting that the effects of inequality were exacerbated by county-level poverty.

Conclusions

Given the tremendous increases in inequality in the US over recent decades, this research sheds light on the mechanisms through which inequality impacts parents' caregiving abilities in highly unequal counties.

中文翻译：

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2009-2018 年美国各县的收入不平等和虐待儿童率

背景和目标

研究证实，收入不平等与健康和福祉受损有关。然而，人们对县级收入不平等对虐待儿童风险的影响知之甚少，特别是对于不同类型的虐待儿童。通过利用最近 10 年（2009-2018 年）的国家数据，我们的研究探讨了县级收入不平等（即基尼指数和收入分位数比率）与虐待儿童率的关联，包括总体虐待率和特定类型的虐待率。即，在美国的身体、心理和性虐待和忽视）。

参与者和设置

我们通过将国家虐待和忽视儿童数据系统与美国社区调查联系起来，利用了来自大约 902 个美国县的数据。

方法

估计普通最小二乘回归模型以检验县级收入不平等与虐待儿童率之间的关系以及贫困率的调节作用。

结果

在控制县级特征后，县级基尼指数得分越高，总体虐待儿童率和忽视率越高。收入分位数比率与总体虐待儿童、身体虐待和忽视显着相关。我们还发现，收入不平等和贫困率与身体和心理虐待率之间存在显着的交互作用，这表明县级贫困加剧了不平等的影响。

结论

鉴于近几十年来美国不平等现象急剧增加，这项研究揭示了不平等现象在高度不平等的县影响父母照顾能力的机制。