Improving the measurement of child neglect for survey research: issues and recommendations.
There is a great need for developing and validating measures of child neglect that can be applied to survey samples outside of a child welfare context. A prospective assessment of child neglect would afford a better estimation of the etiology of various types of child neglect and would greatly inform the development of primary prevention strategies related to child maltreatment. This article offers guidance on the tasks involved with constructing new measures of neglect for prospective survey research. Methodological issues pertaining to child neglect measurement are discussed, and a framework is offered for developing neglect measures for survey research. A discussion is also offered on how this framework is being applied in an ongoing longitudinal study of low-income families with young children. The intended result of this exercise is to encourage the development of new child neglect measures for survey research with both high-risk and general populations.
School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706, USA.
Kristen Shook
KS
Slack
Jane
J
Holl
Lisa
L
Altenbernd
Marla
M
McDaniel
Amy Bush
AB
Stevens
D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D006287:Health Planning Guidelines; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D014481:United States