Re: Socioeconomic Factors and Abuse Rates (was Decline in Quebec incidence rates...)

[Brett Drake <brettd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Can Dr. Drake or others please provide a few references to the strongest
> research findings linking socioeconomic factors to rates of abuse. 

No problem.

For CPS-based sources, see my work (e.g. "Understanding the relationship
between neighborhood poverty and child maltreatment" _Child Abuse and
Neglect_, 20(11), 1003-1018.) or that of Coulton or Zuravin or others.

For hybrid CPS/community sources, see the NIS-3.  This is probably the
best single source, as it is both very recent and contains a cogent review
of the issue of potential class bias (the NIS-3 is a major national study
authored by Andrea Sedlak, of this list). 

For more clearly non-CPS linked sources, see the Gelles studies that look
at family violence or look at some interesting work from Korea by Kim and
Ko for an international perspective (Child Abuse and Neglect, 1990, p.
273)
 
For an ancient (but still timely) theoretical discussion, you can't beat
"Child abuse and neglect: The myth of Classlessness" by L. Pelton, 1978,
Am J of Orthopsych, 48(4), 608-617.  Actually, I'd start here if I were
you.



Happy reading!

Brett Drake
Associate Professor
George Warren Brown School of Social Work