Association of routine school closures with child maltreatment reporting and substantiation in the United States; 2010-2017.
Child Abuse Negl
; 120: 105257, 2021 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1350896
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
There exists a presumption that school closures lead to a diminished capacity to detect child maltreatment, but empiric evidence is lacking.OBJECTIVE:
To determine if child maltreatment reporting and substantiation differ between periods when schools are routinely closed compared to in session. PARTICIPANTS ANDSETTING:
Child maltreatment reporting and substantiation among all U.S. States and the District of Columbia from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2017.METHODS:
Two-week intervals during periods of routine school closure (early January, June through mid-August, late November, and late December) were compared to all other 2-week intervals. Negative binomial generalized estimating equations compared rates of reporting and substantiation, resulting in incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).RESULTS:
Compared to when school was in session, reporting was 16.0% (IRR 0.84 [95% CI 0.83, 0.85]) lower during school closures and substantiations were 12.3% (IRR 0.88 [95% CI 0.86, 0.89]) lower. The largest reductions in reporting were observed among education personnel (-42.1%; IRR 0.58 [95% CI 0.54, 0.62]), children aged 5-17 years (-18.6%; IRR 0.81 [95% CI 0.80, 0.83), and for physical abuse (-19.6%; IRR 0.80 [95% CI 0.79, 0.82]). Reductions during closure periods were not matched by increases during two-week intervals immediately following closure periods.CONCLUSIONS:
Results suggest that the detection of child maltreatment may be diminished during periods of routine school closure. Findings may inform prevention planning and risk-benefit analyses for future school closures. Further study should disentangle the issue of decreased detection versus decreased prevalence of maltreatment during school closures.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Child Abuse
/
Mandatory Reporting
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Child Abuse Negl
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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