Relationship between Socioeconomic
Status and child abuse and neglect in
South Australia
Background
• Neighbourhood characteristics such as
socio-economic status (SES) have been
shown to correlate with poorer health
outcomes, mortality rates, childhood
development, and education
• Previous studies suggested that the SES
of a neighbourhood may be related to
rates of childhood abuse and neglect
– These did not answer our questions
This Study
• Exploration of the relationship between
SES and rates of childhood abuse and
neglect in South Australia (SA)
• CP Data from 3 one-year periods (2006/07
to 2008/09)
• Incidence data at population level
(Statistical Local Area (SLA))
– Data aggregated to SLA level
This Study
• Research questions:
– What is the relationship between socioeconomic status and rates of childhood abuse
and neglect in SA?
– What areas of SA have observed rates of
abuse and neglect which are above or below
those expected based on their SES?
– Which measurements of disadvantage
indicate a relationship with rates of child
abuse and neglect?
SEIFA
• SES represented by Socio-Economic
Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)
• SEFIA produced by the ABS from 2006
Census data
• Index of relative disadvantage used
– 17 items from Census indicate the level of
disadvantage in the SLA
Population of areas
• Data from 121 SLA’s across SA included
• Large variation in number of children living
in these SLA’s
• Population aged 0 to 17 years (from 2006
Census)
– Total population 0 to 17 = 341,561
– Average = 2,823 (SD 2,119)
– Range = 29 to 8,641
Rates of childhood abuse and neglect
• Childhood abuse and neglect data have
been averaged over the three data periods
and reported as per year
• Represents the incidence of children who
have contact with the child protection
system across SA per year
• CP data aggregated by SLA of where a
child was living when the incident occurred
Statistical analysis
• Associations between SEIFA and rates of
childhood abuse and neglect were
estimated using Negative Binomial
regression models
• Can account for a number of issues when
analysing count data at a population level
• Models can estimate the relative
difference in rates between and within
predictors
Interpretation of results
• Cross-sectional study
• Can identify relationships between level of
disadvantage characteristics and rates of
childhood abuse and neglect
• However, causal links can not be
established
Limitations
• Population at risk over the three data
years take from 2006 Census (ie no
population growth)
• Level of disadvantage may vary within a
SLA
Distribution of rate of children subject to a notification
across SLA’s
Rate of 39.3
per 1,000
children per
year across
all SLAs
Distribution of rate of children to experience a
substantiation across SLA’s
Rate of 5.2
per 1,000
children per
year across
all SLAs
Rate of children subject to a notification
100
90
Rate per 1,000 children per year
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 (most)
2
3
4
5
6
7
SEIFA - Index of Disadvantage (decile)
8
9
10 (least)
Rate of children subject to a notification by primary
type
40
Rate per 1,000 children per year
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 (most)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
SEIFA - Index of Disadvantage (decile)
sexual notifications
emotional notifications
physical notifications
non-incident notifications
neglect notifications
10 (least)
Rate of children to experience a substantiation
16
Rate per 1,000 children per year
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1 (most)
2
3
4
5
6
7
SEIFA - Index of Disadvantage (decile)
8
9
10 (least)
Rate of children to experience a substantiation by
primary type
6
Rate per 1,000 children per year
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 (most)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
SEIFA - Index of Disadvantage (decile)
sexual substantiation
emotional substantiation
physical substantiation
other substantiation
neglect substantiation
10 (least)
Cultural background
• Indigenous children were more likely to be
subject to a notification
– 228 per 1000 Indigenous children per year
– 34 per 1000 non-Indigenous children per year
• And experience a substantiation
– 48 per 1000 Indigenous children per year
– 3.9 per 1000 non-Indigenous children per
year
Cultural background
• Comparison of the association of the level
of disadvantage and rate of childhood
abuse and neglect within SLAs between
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
children and non-Indigenous was explored
Rate of children subject to a notification by cultural
background
Rate of children subject to a notification (per 1000 per
year)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1 (most)
2
3
4
5
6
7
SEIFA Index of Disadvantage
Indigenous
non Indigenous
8
9
10 (least)
Rate of children to experience a substantiation by
cultural background
Rate of children to experience a substantiation (per 1000
per year)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1 (most)
2
3
4
5
6
7
SEIFA Index of Disadvantage
Indigenous
non Indigenous
8
9
10 (least)
Expected rates based on SES
• The models can calculate expected rates
of children subject to a notification or
substantiation based on the level of
disadvantage of where they live
• Comparison of the observed and expected
rates can indicate the how well a rate for a
SLA can be explained by the level of
disadvantage within the SLA
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
Deviance residual
1.0
1.5
Rate of children subject to a notification (per 1000
per year)
10
20
50
100
200
Expected rate of children subject to a notification (per 1000 per year)
500
1
0
-1
-2
Deviance residual
2
3
Rate of children to experience a substantiation (per
1000 per year)
1
2
5
10
20
50
100
Expected rate of children to experience a substantation (per 1000 per year)
SEIFA items
• The Index of Disadvantage contains 17
items
• Data on 16 of these items were collected
for each SLA at population level
– % of dwellings requiring one or more extra
bedrooms not available
• The next section explored the association
of these items individually with rates
childhood abuse and neglect
SEIFA items
Income low
% people with stated annual household equivalised income
between $13,000 and $20,799
No Qual
% people aged 15 years and over with no post-school qualifications
No School
% people aged 15 years and over who did not go to school
Unemployed
% people (in the labour force) unemployed
Occ Labour
% employed people classified as Labourers
Occ Drivers
% employed people classified as Machinery Operators and Drivers
Occ Service L
% employed people classified as Low skill community and Personal
service workers
Rent Social
% households renting from a Government or Community
organisation
SEIFA items
Low Rent
% households paying rent who pay less than $120 per week
One Parent
% families that are one parent families with dependent offspring
only
No Car
% occupied private dwelling with no car
Divorced
% people aged 15 years and over who are separated or divorced
Indigenous
% people who identified themselves as being of Aboriginal and/or
Torres Strait Islander origin
English Poor
% people who do not speak English well
No Net
% occupied private dwellings with no Internet connection
Disability U70
% people aged under 70 who need assistance with core activities
Associations with rate of children subject to a
notification (121 SLAs)
• The following items were significantly
associated with increased rates of children
subject to a notification per year:
– Income low, No Qual, Unemployed, Occ
labour, Occ driver, Occ service L, Rent social,
Low rent, One parent, No car, Divorced,
Indigenous, English poor, No net, Disability
U70
• While, no significant association with
– No school
50
100
150
200
250
Size of circle
represents
size of
population
aged 0-17
0
Rate of children subject to a notification (per 1000 per year)
300
% Indigenous by rate of children subject to a
notification
0.2
0.5
1.0
2.0
5.0
10.0
20.0
50.0
% People who indentified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin (logged)
Associations with rate of children to
experience a substantiation (121 SLAs)
• The following items were significantly
associated with increased rates of children
to experience a substantiation per year:
– No Qual, Occ labour, Occ driver, Occ service
L, Rent social, Low rent, No car, Divorced,
Indigenous, English poor, No net, Disability
U70
• While, no significant association with
– Income low, No school, Unemployment, One
parent
100
20
40
60
80
Size of circle
represents
size of
population
aged 0-17
0
Rate of children to experience a substantation (per 1000 per year)
% Indigenous by rate of children to experience a
substantiation
0.2
0.5
1.0
2.0
5.0
10.0
20.0
50.0
% People who indentified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin (logged)
Summary
• Strong positive relationship between the level
of disadvantage where children live and the
reported rates of childhood abuse and
neglect in that community at a population
level
• Stronger relationships for emotional abuse
and neglect (both alleged and confirmed
abuse)
• Higher rates for Indigenous children
regardless of level of disadvantage