Title: The Evidence Base: Child Maltreatment Risk Factors | Child and Family Research Partnership | The University of Texas at Austin
Headings: The Evidence Base: Child Maltreatment Risk Factors
The Evidence Base: Child Maltreatment Risk Factors
CFRP Publications

Content: 20 Similarly important, parent satisfaction with social supports and the community predicts child abuse potential. 21 The resources available in a community also predict child maltreatment risk because resources influence the environment and indicate broader community scarcities. 22 Social isolation is intertwined with parent substance abuse, mental illness, and history of domestic violence or childhood abuse, further exacerbating the relationship between these factors and child maltreatment risk. 23
Negative parent-child interactions and perceptions are associated with child maltreatment risk. Parents who report negative, or few positive, attributes of their babies are at an increased risk of child abuse and CPS involvement. 24 In pregnant women, negative attributions predict later harsh parenting and maltreatment. 25 When interacting with their children, mothers at risk of child abuse demonstrate lower empathy, more over-reactivity, higher compliance expectations, and greater approval of parent-child aggression than do non-abusive mothers. 26 These reactions indicate poor mood regulation, limited ability to manage emotions, and greater frustration, all of which escalate the risk of child abuse. 27 Other risk factors for child maltreatment include child separation from parent, maternal alienation, low parental warmth, and difficult child temperament. 28 Particularly among fathers, poor parent-child relationships also predict child maltreatment and domestic violence.