Risk factors for child maltreatment in Allegheny County

Child maltreatment remains a substantial public health issue in the United States. Increasing efforts in early prevention included exploration of trends and the etiology of various forms of abuse and neglect and demonstrated important characteristics of victims and perpetrators. Current understanding of maltreatment causation utilizes an ecological framework with risk factors in four domains including child factors, parent or caregiver traits, family characteristics, and community features. Adverse childhood experiences, including child maltreatment, have long-lasting and substantial effects on poor health outcomes and economic burdens. By recognizing prevalent risk factors in the community, targeted interventions can be implemented to address these risks, reduce and prevent child maltreatment.\ud The objective of this report was to describe the prevalence of risk factors for maltreatment in Allegheny County in each level of the ecological framework and compare the prevalence of these factors in Allegheny County with Philadelphia County. Data was extracted from publicly available sources on child, maternal, family, and community risk factors from 2007 to 2011. A lack of improvement in premature births and births to unmarried mothers occurring in Allegheny County was found. Premature births increased from 11.7% to 13.1% during this period and remained significantly different from the incidence in Philadelphia County from 2007 to 2009 (all p-values<0.0001) with no difference in 2010 (p=0.37) and 2011 (p=0.73). The prevalence of births to unmarried mothers was 38.8% and 38.6% in 2007 and 2011 but was significantly lower than Philadelphia County during each year examined (all p-values<0.0001). Allegheny County had a higher prevalence in each examined year of maternal tobacco use during pregnancy compared to Philadelphia County (all p-values<0.0001). The unemployment and poverty rates in Allegheny County were lower and significantly different from Philadelphia County during each year examined (all p-values