P3.B031: Females and Child Maltreatment Perpetration: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Nationals Trends

Background: Child maltreatment is prevalent amongst all socioeconomic levels, ethnicities, and backgrounds, yet information about individuals committing such acts—specifically among females—is sparse. Thus, our primary objective was to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of females who have substantiated or indicated child maltreatment , with a secondary objective to compare these characteristics with males

Methods: A cross sectional study of individuals listed as perpetrating maltreatment within child protective services (CPS) cases in the National Child Abuse and Neglect System’s (NCANDS) 2019 Child File was conducted. Individuals were listed as perpetrating maltreatment if at least one form of maltreatment was substantiated/indicated. Child deaths were excluded due to limited data. STATA 16.1 was utilized to list data to be at the individual suspected of perpetrating maltreatment level. Then “perpetrator ID” was used to identify duplicates to allow for unique counts of characteristics. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, and Student’s t-test were conducted with a significance threshold of P< 0.05.

Results: After excluding those with missing data, our sample comprised 474,050 individuals listed as perpetrating maltreatment. The sample composition was 55.7% (n=264,193) female and 44.3% male (n = 209,857). The average age for females was 32.6 (SD = 9.3) years compared to males at 35.1 (SD = 11.0) (t = 85.4, P< 0.001). Differences in ethnoracial groupings by sex were statistically significant (X2(7)=2700, P< 0.001)—with the largest deviations between sexes occurring among White, Hispanic, and Multiracial groupings. We also found significant differences between sexes by the relationship of the child to the individual listed as perpetrating maltreatment (X2(10)=45,885, P< 0.001). Overall, most individuals were biological parents—with 85.6% (n = 226,154) of females in this category compared to 61.95% (n=130,008) of males; however, representation was reversed for categories of step-parents, other relative-non foster parents, and unmarried partners of parents with males having higher percentages within each category. Finally, more females (47.2%, n=121,403) had prior substantiations/indications compared to males (35.7%, n=73,295) which was statistically significant (X2(2)=6,263, P< 0.001).

Conclusion: Within the population assessed, females were younger than their male counterparts, and more likely a biological parent and primary caregiver, which is consistent with previous evidence. Notably, the finding that more females were listed as previously perpetrating maltreatment requires further investigation to determine if substantiated cases involving females are managed with alternative outcomes, thus allowing children to remain within the home. Further analysis is planned to continue evaluating these relationships.