Child Neglect and the Broader Context of Child Victimization

Abstract

Using a pooled data set of two waves of the National Surveys of Children’s Exposure to Violence, this study investigates links between indicators of socioeconomic resources and lifetime exposure to two different forms of child neglect (physical and supervisory), examines how neglect is associated with the risk of other types of victimization, and estimates the impact of neglect on trauma symptoms. Findings suggest that physical neglect is directly linked to economic stressors, while low parental education is consequential for both physical and supervisory neglect. Both types of neglect also were strongly associated with risk of other maltreatment and most other forms of victimization. Physical neglect was particularly strongly related to sexual abuse and witnessing sibling abuse, while supervisory neglect was most strongly related to risk for sexual victimization by a nonfamily adult. Although neglect is significantly associated with trauma symptoms, poly-victims had, by far, the highest levels of trauma symptoms.