Examining the roles of rurality and Latine ethnic density on child maltreatment report and substantiation rates among Latine families: A county-level analysis

ABSTRACT

Evidence of geographic variation in child maltreatment report rates among Latine families is growing. This study investigates whether structural community characteristics, namely rurality and Latine ethnic density, associate with variation in Latine child maltreatment rates across 925 US counties. Using ten years of cross-sectional data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), ACS and USDA, OLS regression models examined rurality and Latine density’s association with child maltreatment report and substantiation rates. Rurality associated with increased maltreatment rates; however, Latine ethnic density buffered this across most maltreatment subtypes. Results highlight a complex interaction between ethnicity, rurality, and maltreatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Child maltreatment
• child welfare
• Latine youth
• NCANDS data
• rurality
• community context

Acknowledgement

The analyses presented in this publication were based on data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File, FFY 2010-19. These data were provided by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University, and have been used with permission. The data were originally collected under the auspices of the Children’s Bureau. Funding was provided by the Children’s Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The collector of the original data, the funding agency, NDACAN, Cornell University, and the agents or employees of these institutions bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. The information and opinions expressed reflect solely the opinions of the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2023.2193555

Notes

1. We adopt the use of Latine to provide a non-binary description of people with Latin American cultural and ethnic heritage. Latine has grown in popularity as it is more consistent with Spanish which utilizes an -e for gender inclusive words that can be either masculine or feminine (e.g., estudiante).

2. We use the 2013 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, defined by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA, 2020b), to operationalize county rurality. Rurality is characterized by county population size and adjacency to a metro area.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kate Golden Guzman

Kate Golden Guzman is a mixed-methods researcher and evaluation consultant with expertise in child welfare. Using an equity-focused and community-informed lens, Dr. Golden Guzman’s research focuses on the experiences of marginalized populations in the child welfare system. She is a PhD graduate of the School of Social Work at Rutgers University.

Liwei Zhang

Liwei Zhang is a Research Assistant Professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Zhang’s scholarship focuses on preventing child maltreatment, especially for those experiencing economic hardship.

Cassandra Simmel

Cassandra Simmel is an Associate Professor and Director of the PhD Program at the School of Social Work at Rutgers University. Dr. Simmel’s scholarship focuses on child welfare policies, programs, and services as well as the intersection between mental health and child welfare systems for adolescents and young adults.