Title: Risk and protective factors for child abuse and neglect | Child Family Community Australia
Headings: Risk and protective factors for child abuse and neglect
Risk and protective factors for child abuse and neglect
Why discuss risk and protective factors?
Definitions
The interaction of risk and protective factors
Limitations of the research
Common risk factors for child abuse and neglect
Table 1: Commonly cited risk factors for child abuse and neglect
Common protective factors for child abuse and neglect
Table 2: Protective factors for reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect
Practice applications of skills and protective factors
Conclusion
Additional CFCA readings
References
Endnotes
Authors and Acknowledgements
Publication details

Content: Risk and protective factors also operate differently as children grow (Li, Godinet, & Arnsberger, 2011). For example, one study found that low birth weight and birth abnormality ceased to be a risk factor for maltreatment after age 1 (Putnam-Hornstein & Needell, 2011). The evidence furthermore suggests that exposure to risk factors is cumulative. That is, the more risk factors in a child's life, the greater the chance that they will experience maltreatment (Begle, Dumas, & Hanson, 2010; MacKenzie, Kotch, & Lee, 2011). Risk factors are often interconnected. For example, unemployment can be connected to mental health problems, and both unemployment and mental health problems are connected with low self-esteem, which are all risk factors for child maltreatment. Risk and protective factors also vary according to the context in which maltreatment is occurring. This resource sheet focuses on the risk and protective factors that contribute to child maltreatment within a family context, but it is important to note that there are differences between these and the risk and protective factors that contribute to child abuse in other settings, such as institutional child sexual abuse (Kaufman & Erooga, 2016). For a discussion of risk and protective factors for institutional child sexual abuse, see this literature review prepared for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.