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Disabling conditions and registration for child abuse and neglect: a population‐based study
Author(s) -
Reading Richard
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006.00614_3.x
Subject(s) - neglect , sexual abuse , population , cerebral palsy , child abuse , physical abuse , poison control , retrospective cohort study , medicine , psychological abuse , pediatrics , psychiatry , cohort study , psychology , injury prevention , medical emergency , surgery , environmental health , pathology
Disabling conditions and registration for child abuse and neglect: a population‐based study.
Spencer N. , Devereux E. , Wallace A. , Sundrum R. , Shenoy M. , Bacchus C. & Logan S.(2005)Pediatrics,116,609–613.Objective To study the relationship between disabling conditions and registration for child abuse and neglect in a 19‐year whole‐population birth cohort. Setting West Sussex area of the United Kingdom. Study design Retrospective whole‐population cohort. Main outcomes Child‐protection registration, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Population and participants Infants born in West Sussex (119 729) between January 1983 and December 2001 with complete data including birthweight, gestational age, maternal age and postal code. Results Cerebral palsy, speech and language disorder, learning difficulties, conduct disorders and non‐conduct psychological disorders were all significantly associated with child‐protection registration before adjustment, and all but cerebral palsy retained significance after adjustment for birthweight, gestational age and socioeconomic status. Autism and sensory disabilities (vision and hearing) were not associated with an increased risk of child‐protection registration. Conduct disorders and moderate/severe learning difficulty were associated with registration in each of the four categories after adjustment for socioeconomic status, birthweight and gestational age. Children with speech and language disorders and mild learning difficulties were at increased risk of physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Non‐conduct psychological disorders were associated with all categories except neglect, and cerebral palsy was associated with all categories except physical abuse and neglect. Conclusions Children with disabling conditions seem to be at increased risk of registration for child abuse and neglect, although the pattern of registration varies with the specific disabling condition. The strong association with registration noted for conditions such as conduct disorder and learning difficulties is likely to arise, in part, because these conditions share a common aetiological pathway with child abuse and neglect.