Chapter 8 Current Research Activities

In conjunction with the publication of NCANDS findings, the Children's Bureau has made the NCANDS data available for additional analysis. To enhance the usefulness of the annual report and to demonstrate the research community's increasing use of the NCANDS data, some examples of current research activities are described below.

State Welfare Policies in the Years Prior to Federal Welfare Reform and Their Effects on Measures of Child Maltreatment
Research Investigators: Rosemary Avery, John Eckenrode, Elizabeth Peters, Elliott G. Smith, Ann Elizabeth Horvath, and Anne Heberger

Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, resulting in sweeping changes to the Nation's welfare system. It is still too early to know the full impact of these changes on the well-being of children, particularly in relation to the issue of child maltreatment. However, legislative precursors to welfare reform were adopted in many States in the years prior to PRWORA, including limiting the amount of time families could remain on welfare and specifying new work requirements for persons receiving welfare. The present research examines the effects of these State policies on the rates and characteristics of child maltreatment while controlling for State-level variables known to be associated with child maltreatment.

In the present research, data from several administrative sources are combined for the years 1990 to 1996 at the State level. Multiple measures of child maltreatment derive from the NCANDS' SDC, available since 1990. The necessary control variables derive from other Federal data sources and include measures of economic well-being (poverty, wages, parental work status, unemployment, and indicators of economic growth), demographic composition, educational attainment, family structure, crime, urban living, and teen childbearing. Information compiled by Horvath and Peters (1999) provides the predictors of primary interest—the welfare policies of individual States from 1990 to 1996.

It is hypothesized that welfare policies affect mediators of child maltreatment, such as income, parental stress, and self-esteem. Investigation of these policies at the State level in the years leading up to Federal welfare reform will provide a set of specific predictions regarding the impact of PRWORA in the years following its implementation.

Contact:
Rosemary Avery, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Cornell University
Policy Analysis and Management
141 MVR Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
e-mail: rja@cornell.edu

Child Maltreatment Report Characteristics of Mandated Reporters: A Secondary Data Analysis of the NCANDS
Research Investigator: John E. Kesner, Ph.D.

Motivated by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 1974, all 50 States and the District of Columbia now have mandated that certain professionals who come into contact or work with children report child abuse or neglect. Medical, educational, legal, and social service personnel are required, by law, to report suspected cases of child maltreatment.

Despite mandated reporting, child maltreatment remains a poorly understood phenomenon, in part, because of our limited understanding of the reporting process. The overall objective of this research project is to examine and compare longitudinally the characteristics of referrals from mandated reporters alleging child maltreatment. To accomplish this objective, data from the NCANDS will be used to address two research questions: First, what are the characteristics of substantiated child maltreatment cases specific to each of the four mandated reporters, and are these characteristics consistent over time? Second, are there significant differences among these characteristics, and are these differences consistent over time?

Contact:
John E. Kesner, Ph.D.
Department of Early Childhood Education
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta, GA 30303
Telephone: 404-651-2987
e-mail: ecejek@langate.gsu.edu

Predictors of Recidivism Identified from Case-Level Data of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)
Research Investigators: Amy Gordon and Cathy Taylor

The purpose of this analysis is to identify the child, family, and case characteristics that are predictors of recidivism (e.g., the recurrence of a substantiated report of child maltreatment within a 12-month period). Data from the NCANDS' DCDC, made available by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University, are being used for the analysis. The sample consists of approximately 96,000 children from 4 States who experienced a substantiated report of abuse or neglect in 1995. Children who were subjects of an additional substantiated report within 12 months of the date of their initial report are being compared with those who did not experience a subsequent report of maltreatment. A logistic regression analysis is being conducted to identify the risk factors associated with an increased likelihood of recidivism.

Contacts:
Amy Gordon
Research Associate
The Child Welfare League of America
440 First Street NW.
Washington, DC 20001
Telephone: 202-662-4288
e-mail: agordon@cwla.org

Cathy Taylor
UCLA School of Public Health
Box 951772
Violence Prevention Research Group
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Telephone: 310-825-1083
e-mail: cataylor@ucla.edu

The Impact of Foster Care and Non-Foster-Care Services on Reducing the Recurrence of Maltreatment
Research Investigator: Jeffrey K. Johnson

For more than a decade, critics of service alternatives to foster care have argued that these alternatives often fail to protect maltreatment victims adequately from additional abuse.

In general, providing statistical evidence on the impact of service alternatives has been difficult because CPS agencies sometimes discover child abuse only in the course of providing services, a process termed the "case-finding effect." A second research difficulty, the "targeting effect," is that children whose families receive services are typically at greater risk of subsequent maltreatment.

The current research employs a methodology that controls for the "targeting" and "case-finding" effects. Preliminary analyses of data from the NCANDS suggest that services are effective at reducing recurrence of maltreatment. Indeed, lower rates of maltreatment were observed for all specific types considered, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.

Contact:
Jeffrey K. Johnson
Research Associate
Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc.
7311 Greenhaven Drive, Suite 310
Sacramento, CA 95831
e-mail: jjohnson@wrma.com

Improving the Identification of Child Fatalities
Research Investigator: Michael Durfee, M.D.

There are three sources of data on child maltreatment fatalities. Infant deaths noted as homicides by coroners on death certificates are recorded as State vital statistics. Cases that come to the attention of law enforcement personnel are reported by each State to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These reports can be obtained from the Uniform Crime Reports: Supplemental Homicide Report. The NCANDS is the third source of data.

These three data sets can be cross-correlated to find cases recorded by coroners, law enforcement officers, and/or social services personnel. A process is being tested in California whereby local child death review teams examine these data sets to reconcile any differences. Integrating these data sets has provided more accurate data. The annual number of child maltreatment deaths identified has tripled. A system of identifying cases, involving multiple counties and including a language in which to discuss cases across agencies, is being developed.

Contact:
Michael Durfee, M.D.
Director, Child Abuse Prevention Program
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
241 North Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Telephone: 213-240-8146
e-mail: MichaelD55@aol.com

Additional Uses of the NCANDS Data

The DCDC is disseminated through the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University (http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu). The SDC is disseminated by the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information

(http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov). The National Data Analysis System (NDAS), sponsored by the Child Welfare League of America, has made available the SDC data at http://www.ndas.cwla.org.

Each summer, the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect conducts a weeklong Summer Research Institute on secondary child welfare data analysis. The Institute combines classroom instruction with hands-on experience. Participants are selected from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, social work, education, and medicine. The Institute provides researchers a unique opportunity to network and to collaborate with other scholars in the field. The Archive covers the cost of room, board, and tuition; participants are responsible for their own travel costs. Additional information is available online at: http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu.