Many risk factors occur simultaneously and place children at a greater risk for maltreatment. These factors include parent and child characteristics, family factors, and community conditions.
Associations Between Family Risk Factors and Child Neglect Types in U.S. Army Communities (PDF - 177 KB)
Cozza, Ogle, Fisher, Zhou, Whaley, Fullerton, & Ursano (2019)
Child Maltreatment, 24(1)
Examines sets of family risk factors and how they are associated with child neglect types among U.S. Army families. Mental health issues in the family and large family size are associated with failure to provide physical needs; child care issues and larger family size lead to increased risk of supervisory neglect; and family disagreements are associated with risk for the emotional neglect of children.
Clinical Report: Psychological Maltreatment (PDF - 689 KB)
Hibbard, Barlow, MacMillan, Committee on Child Abuse and
Neglect, and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Child Maltreatment and Violence Committee (2017)
Explores the psychological or emotional maltreatment of children and discusses co-occurring risk factors for such abuse, including parental psychiatric illness, such as depression and substance use, and exposure to intimate partner violence.
A Cumulative Risk Model of Child Physical Maltreatment Potential: Findings From a Community-Based Study (PDF - 1,208 KB)
Lamela & Figueiredo (2015)
Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33(8)
Proposes that child maltreatment is related to an accumulation of risk factors, including parental characteristics such as experiences of abuse in childhood, unemployment, and others. Research has shown that these factors do not operate in isolation, and their combining effect should be analyzed.
Exploring the Interrelatedness of Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment: A Network Approach
Vial, van der Put, Stams, Kossakowski, & Assink
Child Abuse and Neglect, 107
Examines the relationship between several risk factors for child maltreatment and shows that risk factors are highly interrelated. Risk factors for child maltreatment were more strongly related to each other in high-risk families.
Modeling Risk for Child Abuse and Harsh Parenting in Families with Depressed and Substance-Abusing Parents
Kelley, Lawrence, Milletich, Hollis, & Henson (2015)
Child Abuse & Neglect, 43
Discusses substance use by fathers only and by both parents, as well as parents' depression, as risk factors for child abuse. Results showed that parental substance use was associated with child abuse and harsh parenting and that a parent's own report of depressive symptoms also predicted their risk for child maltreatment.
Prenatal Substance Exposure and Reporting of Child Maltreatment by Race and Ethnicity
Putnam-Hornstein, Prindle, & Leventhal (2016)
Pediatrics, 138(3)
Investigates the effect of substance exposure on reports of child maltreatment made to child protective services, including whether clinicians are more likely to report Black and Hispanic substance-exposed infants compared with White infants.
Risk Factors for Child Abuse and Neglect
CASA Child Advocates of Montgomery County (2015)
Describes the categories of risk factors for child maltreatment, including parent or caregiver risk factors, child risk factors, parenting methods and household risk factors, and community and environmental risk factors. The resource also explains that these risk factors often occur simultaneously and combine for an increased risk of abuse and neglect.
Risk Terrain Modeling Predicts Child Maltreatment
Daley, Bachmann, Bachmann, Pedigo, Bui, & Coffman (2016)
Child Abuse & Neglect, 62
Discusses risk terrain modeling, a tool that enables the analysis of the cumulative effect of environmental factors thought to contribute to child maltreatment. Risk terrain modeling can be used to create an accurate prediction model for future child abuse and neglect cases.