Neighborhood Impoverishment and Child Maltreatment

Abstract

This study examines the neighborhood context of child maltreatment. The neighborhood level of analysis reveals something of the resources upon which caregivers can draw in carrying out their roles. After a discussion of the connection between structural inequality (in terms of both class and gender) and child abuse, we employ a model of neighborhood “impoverishment,” devised from the ecological perspective, to predict rates of maltreatment in neighborhoods in a West Texas city. Our findings underscore the importance of social support in mediating child maltreatment. Neighborhoods that include residents who are “free from drain” compose socially rich environments in which people can engage in neighborly exchanges and thereby reduce the risk of maltreatment.