Publication year
2015
Citation Title
Types, subtypes, and severity of substantiated child neglect in U.S. Army communities
Journal Name
Military Medicine
Journal Volume
180
Issue Number
11
Page Numbers
1147-1153
DOI
10.7205/milmed-d-14-00373
Summary
An investigation around the types, subtypes, and severity of child neglect among a sample of substantiated cases at four U. S. Army installations was conducted. Descriptions of demographic correlates of victims and offenders by type and subtype were provided. Overall, five types and 17 subtypes of neglect were represented, separately or in combination, and with varying severity.
Key Findings
The neglect cases that were included consisted of mostly young offenders with young children; approximately 40% of children were infants and toddlers (i.e., under three years of age) and 84% of offenders were 32 years or younger, with nearly 40% under 24 year.
The types of neglect most highly represented included lack of supervision (35%), emotional neglect (32%), and failure to provide physical needs (26%).
The majority of incidents coded as emotional neglect involved male offenders whereas the majority of the remaining types of incidents involved female offenders.
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide support for deployed Service members that focuses on relationship building with their children during reintegration
Offer pre- and post-deployment support groups for deployed parents and their children
Develop curriculum for deployed parents that focuses on the inclusion of targeted prevention of child neglect strategies
Implications for Policy Makers
Build awareness across military branches around the importance of supporting and promoting effective parenting for Service members and their partners
Recommend education of professionals (e.g. child caregivers, mental health, education professionals) on the different types and subtypes of child neglect
Support parenting skill development that promotes resilience in Service members, their partners, and children
Methods
Six hundred randomly sampled child neglect cases were selected out of 5,640 cases from four Army installations with the highest number of substantiated child neglect cases.
Out of the 600 randomly sampled cases, the first 100 from each site were used in the analysis with a total of 397 case files included.
Trained research team members coded each case for five distinct types of child neglect: (1) Failure to Provide Physical Needs, (2) Lack of Supervision, (3) Emotional Neglect, (4) Moral-Legal Neglect, and (5) Educational Neglect.
Participants
Participants included 512 offenders for the 397 case files, meaning that in some cases there were two offenders (i.e. civilian spouses and Service members).
Offenders were 55% female and 44% male, with 56% identifying as White, 29% as Black, and 16% as other.
Two thirds of military offenders were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) in rank; 98% were E-6 and below and 60% of spouse offenders were from E-1 to E-4 families.
Limitations
Only large U.S. Army installations were sampled; therefore, the results may not be generalizable to child neglect on small Army installations or in other military communities.
The focus of this study was on substantiated cases of child neglect which limits the understanding of risk and protective mechanisms among non-substantiated cases of neglect.
Data for this study was from cases filed between 2003 and 2007, a high deployment period; which could bias the outcomes.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine specific risk factors and their relationship to neglect types and severity of outcomes
Investigate correlates of types and subtypes of child neglect in military communities to identify other individual, family, and community risk factors
Explore the association of military risk factors (e.g., combat deployment) to specific types and subtypes of child neglect
Focus
Army
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Background: Neglect has been linked to short-term and long-term deleterious outcomes in children, but has received little attention in the research literature. Objective: Identify types, subtypes, and severity of child neglect in a sample of substantiated cases at 4 U.S. Army installations. Describe demographic correlates of victims and offenders by type and subtype. Participants: Data were collected from archived clinical records. A stratified random sample of 100 substantiated child neglect case files were selected per site (N = 400). Data from a single child per case file were used. Results: 5 types and 17 subtypes of neglect were represented, singly or in combination, with varying severity. Lack of Supervision was most common (n = 177, 35.3%), followed by Emotional Neglect (n = 159, 31.8%), Failure to Provide Physical Needs (n = 131, 26.2%), Moral_Legal Neglect (n = 20, 4%), and Educational Neglect (n = 13, 2.6%). Child neglect occurred mostly among young children and in young enlisted families. Conclusions: Current results highlight the need to focus on types, subtypes, and severity of neglect incidents that provide specific understanding of child risk to better inform policy. Further study should examine specific risk factors and their relationship to neglect types and severity outcomes.
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