Predicting child maltreatment in the first 4 years of life: From characteristics assessed in the neonatal period

Objective: To examine the significance of neonatal risk factors from the in dividual, family, social, and parenting behavior domains of the ecological model of child maltreatment in predicting maltreatment reports in the first 4 years of life, and to examine the extent to which the interactions of li fe event stress and social support modify those risk factors. Method: Mothers of 708 predominantly at-risk infants were interviewed in th eir homes soon after their infants' discharge from the hospital. State chil d abuse and neglect central registry data were tracked every 6 months until the infants reached their fourth birthdays. Results: The incidence of maltreatment reports was higher in households whe re the mothers were depressed, complained of psychosomatic symptoms, had no t graduated from high school, consumed alcohol, participated in public inco me support programs, cared for more than one dependent child, or were separ ated from their own mothers at age 14 years (p <.1). In interaction models including these seven predisposing variables, there were significant intera ctions (p <.01) between social support, as measured by the social well-bein g index after the birth of the index child, and depression, and between soc ial well-being and stress, as measured by an increase in total life events. Conclusion: Some predisposing risk factors measured soon after birth contin ue to be significant predictors of child maltreatment reports through the f ourth year of life. In general, families with low levels of social support had a higher risk of a maltreatment report. For families with lower levels of maternal depression and/or life: event stress, low social support signif icantly increased the risk of a maltreatment report by as much as a factor of four. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.