ABSTRACT
This paper examines whether exposure to spatially proximate homicide affects norms, attitudes, and the adaptive strategies adolescents take to insulate themselves from violent victimization. Drawing on survey data from a large sample of urban youth (n = 3195), we assess the impact of homicides occurring within a one-mile radius of respondents' homes on a variety of psychosocial outcomes. We exploit random variation in the timing of survey administration to compare the survey responses of youths who were exposed to a homicide in the immediate vicinity of their homes in the one-month period leading up the administration of the survey with students who did not experience a homicide near their homes during that period but would the following month. This strategic comparison approach minimizes the confounding influence of endogenous processes that funnel children and families into places where homicides tend to concentrate.
ABSTRACT
Many nationally representative datasets are available for assessing the magnitude, trend, and risk for child sexual victimization in the United States. Unfortunately, the disaggregation of sexual violence into more specific sex crimes and the reliable measurement of these specific acts are often avoided by researchers due to the methodological limitations of victimization data. For example, previous scholars have successfully measured the strength of the relationship between the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and child sexual abuse (CSA) within their respective samples; however, little is known about the extent to which CSEC occurs in the larger U.S. population, irrespective of past CSA. This study presents new analyses of publicly available representative data on the incidence, trend, and risk for CSA and CSEC independent of one another. We find that significantly more is known about CSA than CSEC. In addition, while victims of CSA and CSEC share many risk factors, CSA is far more common than CSEC, and their trends are going in different directions. We find that rates of CSA and CSEC are often derived from data with significant methodological limitations, such as administrative datasets that are limited to only victimizations reported to governmental agencies or representative surveys that measure the incidence/prevalence in one year alone, not repeatedly as required to assess trends. We fill in some of the gaps existing in our analyses with a review of other studies examining CSA and CSEC, as well as discuss future directions in research that researchers and child welfare practitioners should consider.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Data suggest that U.S. rates of violence declined beginning in the 1990s. However, crime trend studies have not entirely agreed on reasons for the decline, and few have empirically assessed the decline in violence against children more specifically. OBJECTIVE: This study investigates several competing hypotheses for explaining declines in reported child physical abuse, sexual abuse, and homicide. Attention is given to the importance of these explanatory factors for explaining both rates (levels) and year-over-year differences (trends) in these child outcomes. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Population-level state-panel data for the years 1997-2020 are used, totaling 1176 state-years. METHODS: Linear panel-data models are used to examine the relationship between explanatory factors and levels and trends in rates of reported child abuse and child homicide. RESULTS: As operationalized in this study, few of the hypotheses proposed for explaining declines in child victimization were associated with levels or trends in reported child abuse. The only explanatory factor significantly associated with lower rates of reported child physical abuse was the rate of alternative response. Year-over-year increases in lagged female incarceration rates were associated with year-over-year declines in rates of reported physical abuse. Several explanatory measures were associated with levels or trends in child homicide, while only methylphenidate distribution was associated with levels of reported child sexual abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Policymakers should be aware of the importance of alternative response rates on rates of reported child physical abuse and recognize that macro-level declines in reported child victimization may only be possible if macro-level conditions are also addressed.
Subject(s)
Child Abuse, Sexual , Child Abuse , Crime Victims , Child , Female , Humans , Homicide , ViolenceABSTRACT
The current study assesses the relative influence of various individual-level characteristics on the probability of intimate partner violence (IPV) for separated and nonseparated women. While previous studies have found that separated women do in fact have a higher risk for IPV than nonseparated women, these largely bivariate examinations of marital status and risk for IPV have often not considered the effect other characteristics may have on risk estimates. The current study uses the 1995-2010 National Crime Victimization Surveys to examine how separated women's risk for IPV compares with nonseparated women's risk for IPV over time, and if separated, women's risk for IPV is a function of either being separated or possessing characteristics known to be correlated with risk. A key strength of this study is its ability to account for the confounding effects of change in separation status and IPV. Results show that separated women were more likely than nonseparated women to be victims of IPV in most years from 1995 to 2010, and after controlling for the effects of individual-level characteristics, their risk did not change. Age was the only significant predictor of women's risk for IPV, net of other factors, but had no effect on separated women's risk for IPV. These results suggest that the status of being separated has the strongest effect on women's risk for IPV. The importance of understanding how the separation period makes women more likely to be victims of IPV is discussed.
