The Co-occurrence of Child Maltreatment and Domestic Violence: Examining Both Neglect and Child Physical Abuse

Abstract

Research supports a substantial overlap between domestic violence and child maltreatment. However, few studies examine the characteristics of families in which both domestic violence and child maltreatment are present, with most studies exploring only child physical abuse. This study examined differences in demographic characteristics, parental problems, and maltreatment characteristics for families involving physical abuse or neglect and woman battering compared to families with the same type of maltreatment but no known woman battering present. Descriptive analyses found more differences between families with domestic violence and neglect and neglect-only than between co-occurring physical abuse and physical abuse-only families. Analyses looking at the association or interaction between the type of maltreatment and presence of domestic violence found a significant association between marital status, father's biological relationship to the child, mother-as-perpetrator, and age of the children with co-occurrence of domestic violence for neglect but not for physical abuse.