Abstract
There is strong evidence that poverty and economic disadvantage are associated with child maltreatment; however, research in this area is underdeveloped in Canada. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between economic hardship and maltreatment for families and children identified to the Ontario child protection system for a maltreatment concern. Secondary analyses of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2013 (OIS-2013) were conducted. The OIS-2013 examines the incidence of reported maltreatment and the characteristics of children and families investigated by child welfare authorities in Ontario in 2013. Descriptive and bivariate chi-square analyses were conducted in addition to a logistic regression predicting the substantiation of maltreatment. In 9% of investigations, the household had run out of money for food, housing, and/or utilities in the past 6 months. Children in these households were more likely to have developmental concerns, academic difficulties, and caregivers with mental health concerns and substance use issues. Controlling for key clinical and case characteristics, children living in families facing economic hardship were almost 2 times more likely to be involved in a substantiated maltreatment investigation (OR = 1.91, p < 0.001). The implications in regard to future research and promoting resilience are discussed.
Highlights
It has been well documented that children living in poverty experience a wide range of disadvantages in the areas of physical and mental health, development, and academic achievement [1,2,3,4]
This paper has shown that a significant proportion of children investigated by child welfare authorities in Ontario live in families struggling with economic hardship, and the children who live in these families are more likely to have developmental concerns and academic difficulties along with high-risk caregivers and previous child welfare involvement
Our findings indicate that children experiencing economic disadvantage were more likely to have developmental concerns and academic difficulties and to experience victimization
Summary
It has been well documented that children living in poverty experience a wide range of disadvantages in the areas of physical and mental health, development, and academic achievement [1,2,3,4]. In Canada, several cohort studies have shown that children living in poverty are more likely to develop health problems [5], to display disruptive behavior [6], and to drop out of high school [7]. Poverty and economic disadvantage have long been associated with a greater risk of child maltreatment [9,10,11]. In the United States, children living in financially strained households are at five times greater risk for child abuse and neglect compared to children from families with higher socio-economic status [12]. Neglect is the most frequently investigated type of maltreatment in the United States [13] and the type most commonly associated with poverty [11,13,14]
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