Introduction
To reiterate, I wish to investigate the antecedents of child abuse with the dual purpose of a) permitting social services to better forestall physical abuse and, b) recommending meaningful interventions for those children who have already endured such abuse. In this second segment, I address the contributions of economics as a second social science discipline that has relevance to the topic at hand. Specifically, my hypothesis is that depressed economic circumstances and deprivation lead to having a significant causative influence on the physical abuse of family members.
Findings
Physicians were the first to notice and report evidence of child abuse and neglect in the 1960s. Consequently, early investigators resorted to medical and psychiatric paradigms for what was characterized as an anomaly and then a disorder on the part of abusive parents (Kempe, Silverman, Steele, Droegemueller, & Silver, 1962; Steele & Pollock, 1968; as cited in Gelles, 1992). Later on, social scientists raised the possibility of socioeconomic pressures precipitating the maltreatment of children.
Perusing the 1975 and 1985 National Family Violence Surveys, Gelles found that domestic violence occurred across all income strata in America. However, abuse and violence were more likely among the poor. This was especially true for both impoverished young parents and young single mothers, with respect to very young children and when there are young caretakers involved as well. The conclusion he drew was that poverty – defined as living below the poverty line: below $6,000 per annum in 1975 and less than $10,000 annually in 1985 – has other detrimental effects on children and the family as a whole. And the logical implication was that economic assistance ought to be extended to the poor, especially in single-parent households or when the married couple is young. This case reveals the combined impact of economic deprivation and inadequate maturity of youthful parents in shaping the frustration and unthinking lashing-out that afflicts vulnerable young children the most.
In February 2007, UNICEF released Report card Number 7, the latest in an ambitious report series that monitors the wellbeing of children in the OECD countries, the wealthy, industrialized nations. The section that directly relates to my thesis is “Child Health and Safety”, an area that UNICEF regards as reflective of a nation’s commitment to its children. The Netherlands and four Nordic countries (Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark, in that order) rank ahead of all other nations but these have to do chiefly with infant mortality, immunization, and overall safety. The latter comprises deaths due to murder-suicide, accidents, and other forms of violence. Sweden, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy have achieved the most in reducing the death rate (among all those 0-19 years old) to fewer than 20 per 100,000. This represents a reduction of half in a span of thirty years. The United States ranked second-worst in this category of child wellbeing.
That the report section does not cover injuries (and therefore understates the incidence of child abuse and negligence) is an omission that UNICEF ascribes to inconsistencies in definitions, methodology, reporting, and classification. Nonetheless, the 2003 report recorded some 3,500 children (14 years or younger) “die every year in the OECD countries from maltreatment, physical abuse, and neglect” (UNICEF, 2007). These figures may be tiny in relation to overall mortality but, the great anguish of the families concerned aside, this world body is of the opinion that such figures represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the true extent of trauma and disability owing to child abuse and neglect. As well, the UNICEF series adds materially to the scholarship and insight of this thesis by asserting that child injury and death strongly correlate with single-parent families, poverty, poorly-educated mothers, early/teen pregnancies, weak or nonexistent support from extended families, slum-like surroundings, and substance abuse.
Finally, Paxson and Waldfogel (2002) do us all a service by analyzing panel data from different states on the relationship among neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and other types of maltreatment, on one hand, and the economic status of the family on the other. They found nearly 3 million cases of abuse and neglect reported in 1997. Secondly, they recap the body of literature suggesting that children from low-income families do worse in school, are more likely to drop out, and suffer economic straits themselves as adults. But where lies the link between poverty and performance in school or later in life? The available research, they say, points to poverty (and increases in single-parent households) correlating with higher levels of abuse and neglect. In turn, there is evidence that child neglect and abuse lead to greater delinquency, substance abuse, “unintended” pregnancies, other behavioral problems that affect prospects for employment and growing up to become abusive parents themselves.
Conclusions
In the American context, three come to the same conclusion after reviewing panel data and the body of literature: domestic violence rises with rising poverty. The UNICEF corroborates the relationship of poverty with child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment.
References
Gelles, R. J. (1992). Poverty and violence toward children : Method the 1975 national family violence survey sample and administration defining and operationalizing violence and abuse reliability and validity, the 1985 national family violence survey sample and administration modifications to the conflict tactics scales results poverty and violence toward children 1976 findings 1985 findings analysis of both surveys changing rates of violence toward children single parents, poverty, and violence toward children stress, income, and violence toward children; Discussion and conclusion. The American Behavioral Scientist (1986-1994), 35(3), 258-274.
Paxson, C. & Waldfogel, J. (2002). Work, welfare, and child maltreatment. Journal of Labor Economics, 20(3), 435-474.
UNICEF (2007) Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries. Innocenti Report Card 7, Florence: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre.