This entry examines the economic determinants of child maltreatment. We first discuss potential mechanisms through which economic factors, including income, employment, aggregate economic conditions, and welfare receipt, might have causal effects on the rates of child abuse and neglect. We then outline the main challenges faced by researchers attempting to identify these causal effects, emphasi...

The authors assessed the effectiveness of a home visitation program in enhancing the early parenting history of infants born at medical risk--a population that is at risk for mistreatment. A randomized clinical trial design was used to compare the effects of a cognitively based extension of the Healthy Start home visitation program (HV+) with a visitation condition that did not include this com...