Childhood Abuse, Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adulthood, and Welfare Receipt by Midlife

Receipt of parenting, disability, unemployment, and other income support payments in persons aged 16 to 33 years - the associations with child maltreatment

BACKGROUND

Child maltreatment (CM) is a major public health concern with life-long effects. Its impact on income support has rarely been studied.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between CM and receipt of income support payments and the budgetary impact for persons 16 to 33 years.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

A South Australian birth cohort, born 1986 to 2004 (n = 339,411).

METHODS

We linked child protection (CP) administrative records with national welfare payment records, ending March 2020. Receipt of income support payments and mean payment amounts were described by CP contact (adjusted for child and family attributes). Budget impact was modelled at the national level.

RESULTS

Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for receipt of any income support payment was 3.01 (2.95-3.07) for individuals with any CP contact versus no CP contact. Among those receiving any payment, adjusted annualised mean benefit payment was $3754 (US$1446) among individuals with no CP contact, $6262 (US$4,307) in persons with any CP contact, and $9,747 in persons who'd been in OOHC. Cumulative payments modelled from age 16 to 33 years totalled $38,570 (US$26,652) for individuals with no CP contact, and $181,743 (US$125,003) for individuals who'd been in OOHC. Modelled for the Australian population to age 33, the extra cost associated with CP contact added 39 % to the government income support budget.

CONCLUSION

CM is strongly associated with receipt of income support payments. Investment in effective preventive and protective strategies for CP involved children could address this core social determinant of health, while providing budget savings.

Financial support policies as a mechanism to reduce child welfare involvement

None.

Is lifetime abuse forgivable in old age?

Old age is characterized by reflection and a retrospective examination of the multiple meanings of various life experiences, including lifelong abuse. Forgiveness is found to have a salutary effect, especially for older adults. To understand the place and role of forgiveness in the reflective process during aging, we performed a secondary analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews (N = 78) with older women survivors of abuse. Inductive thematic analysis was based on concepts developed deductively from the literature review. The findings include three main themes: (1) The dimensions of forgiving: The victim as subject; (2) Being forgiven: Between lost forgiveness and hope; and (3) Self-forgiveness and the aging self. Despite the known salutary effect of forgiveness, we must consider that this is not a universally desirable process. We included the dimension of forgiveness in the study of abuse throughout the older person's life course and identified further complexities in addition to the "forgiveness"/"unforgiveness."

Derivation of probable child maltreatment indicators using prospectively recorded information between 5 months and 17 years in a longitudinal cohort of Canadian children

BACKGROUND

Both prospective and retrospective measures of child maltreatment predict mental and physical health problems, despite their weak concordance. Research remains largely based on retrospective reports spanning the entire childhood due to a scarcity of prospectively completed measures targeting maltreatment specifically.

OBJECTIVE

We developed a prospective index of child maltreatment in the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) using prospective information collected from ages 5 months to 17 years and examined its concordance with retrospective maltreatment.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The QLSCD is an ongoing population-based cohort that includes 2,120 participants born from 1997-1998 in the Canadian Province of Quebec.

METHODS

As the QLSCD did not have maltreatment as a focal variable, we screened 29,600 items completed by multiple informants (mothers, children, teachers, home observations) across 14 measurement points (5 months-17 years). Items that could reflect maltreatment were first extracted. Indicators were derived across preschool, school-age and adolescence periods and by the end of childhood and adolescence, including presence (yes/no), chronicity (re-occurrence), extent of exposure and cumulative maltreatment. Two maltreatment experts reviewed these items for inclusion and determined cut-offs for possible child maltreatment (n=251 items). Retrospective maltreatment was self-reported at 23 years.

RESULTS

Across all developmental periods, the presence of maltreatment was as follows: physical abuse (16.3-21.8%), psychological abuse (3.3-21.9%), emotional neglect (20.4-21.6%), physical neglect (15.0-22.3%), supervisory neglect (25.8-44.9%), family violence (4.1-11.2%) and sexual abuse (9.5% in adolescence only). The degree of concordance between prospective and retrospective reports for each type of maltreatment was weak (.038-.110), yet significant (ps<.01), except for emotional neglect (p=.148).

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to the many future research opportunities offered by these prospective indicators of maltreatment, this study offers a roadmap to researchers wishing to undertake a similar task.