Neighborhood Effects on Child Maltreatment in Rural Areas

Abstract

Approximately 1 in 8 U.S. children will become victims of child abuse and neglect within the first 18 years of life (Wildeman et al. JAMA Pediatrics 168:706–713, 2014). There is wide recognition that neighborhoods play a critical role in parenting behaviors, and impact the likelihood that a child will experience maltreatment (Coulton et al. Child Abuse & Neglect 31:1117–1142, 2007; Freisthler et al. Child Maltreatment 11:263–280, 2006). Despite having high levels of child maltreatment, rural areas are under-investigated compared to urban areas. The vast majority of the literature relating neighborhood and community context to child maltreatment has been in urban areas, leaving out a significant proportion of children and families. This is despite the fact that child maltreatment rates are often higher in rural than urban areas (Donnermeyer, Rural child abuse. Encyclopedia of Interpersonal Violence. Sage Publications, 2008, Theoretical and empirical gaps in rural criminology. In Rural transformation and rural crime: International critical perspectives in rural criminology. Policy Press, in press). Additionally, some neighborhood and community risk factors for child maltreatment that have been identified in urban areas are present, and sometimes higher, in rural settings. It is unclear whether the same factors that contribute to child maltreatment in urban areas do so similarly in rural areas. This chapter looks at social disorganization and collective efficacy theories and their components to compare and contrast urban and rural neighborhoods. It also considers aspects of rural areas that could contribute to or protect from child maltreatment.