RE: re unrelated males in household - some data

["Niki Delson" <niki@xxxxxxxxx>]

There were 2591 Missouri resident children under age 5 that died in Missouri
from 1992 through 1994. A total of 952 deaths related to congenital
malformations (427), prematurity (259), and other or undetermined cause of
death (266) were excluded, leaving 1639 deaths for study (Fig 1) . Of the
291 injury deaths, 175 (60%) met the study definition of maltreatment; 296
controls were selected from the 1348 eligible noninjury deaths. We were
unable to select 2 controls for each case because of a lack of eligible 2-
and 3-year-old controls.
I have the article in pdf. format and I am trying to find out if copyright
prevents me from posting it as an attachment. In the meantime -- here is
some data

In 55 (31%) of the 175 maltreatment deaths, a parent or other caregiver
directly inflicted the fatal injury. Of these, 39 (71%) were inflicted by
shaking, dropping, or hitting the child; 11 (20%) involved the use of
physical objects including firearms; and the method of injury for the
remaining 5 (9%) inflicted injury deaths was unknown.

One hundred twenty (69%) maltreatment deaths resulted when a parent or
caregiver failed to protect the child from a hazard. These deaths resulted
from fires (37, 31%), drowning

(31, 26%), unsafe sleeping arrangements (17, 14%), motor vehicles (17, 14%),
choking or strangulation (8, 7%), and other miscellaneous hazards, including
falls from heights, poisons, and electrocution (10, 8%).

Household Composition and Risk of Maltreatment Death
Children residing in households with adults unrelated to them had the
highest risk of maltreatment death compared with decedent children residing
in households with 2 biological parents and no other adults (aOR: 8.8; 95%
confidence interval [CI]: 3.6–21.5; Table 2) . Children in households with
step, foster, or adoptive parents also had an increased risk of maltreatment
death (aOR: 4.7; 95% CI: 1.6–12.0) as did children in households with other
relatives present (aOR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.1–4.5).

The majority (83%) of households with at least 1 unrelated adult resident
consisted of the child's biological mother and her boyfriend. Similarly,
>70% of the case households (and only 30% of control households) in the
step, foster, and adoptive category contained a biological mother and
stepfather. Therefore, the increased risk of maltreatment death we found
occurs primarily in households including biologically unrelated adult males
and boyfriends of the child's mother. Thirty-nine percent of our control
children resided in households with only 1 biological parent. Risk was not
increased for children in households with 1 biological parent and no other
adult residents. Based on national data on household composition from the
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics,[30] we calculated
a population attributable risk of 12% for households with single mothers and
their partners, and 8% for stepparent households. In our study, the partners
were mainly boyfriends; the identity of the partners were not specified in
the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics data.

Perpetrators:
We had perpetrator information for most of the 55 maltreatment deaths that
resulted from an inflicted injury (Table 5) . Of these 21 children, 38%
sustained injuries inflicted by a biological parent (18% by the biological
mother and 20% by the biological father). Fourteen of the children (25%)
were injured by their mother's boyfriend, whereas only 1 child (2%) was
injured by their father's girlfriend. The perpetrator was unknown or not
identified for 7 children (13%). Table 5 also identifies the household
composition category of the decedent child. It is worth noting, however,
that perpetrators were not necessarily residents of the decedent child's
household.

***************************************************************************
 Niki Delson at Delson-Kokish Associates, P.O. Box 476, Trinidad, CA 95570
        Clinical and Forensic Evaluations, Consultation & Training
                 (707)677-3181-voice   (707)677-0187-fax
                   niki@delko.net         www.delko.net
***************************************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
[mailto:owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu]On Behalf Of
PFONNER, LINDA
Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 8:05 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: re unrelated males in household



My question, as a CPS worker, not researcher, is how often, if ever, is that
unrelated adult male in the household the perpetrator of the maltreatment
that leads to the child's death?  Anecdotal evidence would lead us to
believe that such unrelated males, especially if they are under 25yoa, are
prime suspects in such deaths.  Does this study discuss this at all?





Linda Pfonner

Child Protection Worker
478 Main Street, Suite 321
Buffalo NY  14202-4103
716-858-8802
14D691@dfa.state.ny.us