Substantiation and maltreatment rereporting: a propensity score analysis.
Although it is a widely used indicator, the use of substantiation in child welfare practice and research is not without critics. Much of this criticism concerns the ability of the substantiation disposition to distinguish between child protective services (CPS) investigations in which maltreatment occurs or does not occur. This study examined the relationship between substantiation and maltreatment rereporting using an analytic technique known as propensity score matching (PSM). Children with initially substantiated maltreatment reports were at significantly higher risk for rereporting than those with initially unsubstantiated reports, even after matching the two groups on propensity scores based on several demographic and case characteristics. Although additional study using PSM on other samples is warranted, this evidence supports the predictive validity of the substantiation disposition and its continued use as one factor to consider when allocating limited post-investigation services.
Fuller
Tamara
T
Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
Nieto
Martin
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012306:Risk