Risk Factors for Fatal Maltreatment Victimization and Perpetration

Abstract

This chapter discusses a variety of risk factors for fatal child maltreatment: child characteristics, parent characteristics, the parent-child relationship, and household characteristics. Some of these include a child’s age and gender, parent/perpetrator age, parent mental health concerns, and social/environmental conditions in the home. The second portion of the chapter will focus on the areas of controversy concerning risk factors for child maltreatment fatalities, including parent/perpetrator gender, race of victim/parent/perpetrator, child behavioral health, and the parent-child relationship. These controversies are fueled by a variety of sources, including the media and historically uninformed assumptions about the “goodness” and limits of parents’ actions toward their children. The chapter will end by covering some risk factors that have been inadequately explored and what how this limits the field’s ability to better identify children who are at risk for a maltreatment fatality.