Does Child Abuse Cause Crime?
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Currie, Janet
Tekin, Erdal
Abstract / Description
Child maltreatment, which includes both child abuse and child neglect, is a major social problem. This paper focuses on measuring the effects of child maltreatment on crime using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focus on crime because it is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes of maltreatment, and because the proposed mechanisms linking maltreatment and crime are relatively well elucidated in the literature. Our work addresses many limitations of the existing literature on child maltreatment. First, we use a large national sample, and investigate different types of abuse in a similar framework. Second, we pay careful attention to identifying the causal impact of abuse, by using a variety of statistical methods that make differing assumptions. These methods include: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), propensity score matching estimators, and twin fixed effects. Finally, we examine the extent to which the effects of maltreatment vary with socio-economic status (SES), gender, and the severity of the maltreatment. We find that maltreatment approximately doubles the probability of engaging in many types of crime. Low SES children are both more likely to be mistreated and suffer more damaging effects. Boys are at greater risk than girls, at least in terms of increased propensity to commit crime. Sexual abuse appears to have the largest negative effects, perhaps justifying the emphasis on this type of abuse in the literature. Finally, the probability of engaging in crime increases with the experience of multiple forms of maltreatment as well as the experience of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation.
Keyword(s)
Kindesmisshandlung Kriminalität Kindesmisshandlung Kriminalität maltreatment child abuse crimePersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2006
Is part of series
Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;2063
Citation
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dp2063.pdfAdobe PDF - 1.02MBMD5: 1d134bdf2236aafc4dd0b415d63df012
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Currie, Janet
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Tekin, Erdal
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-11-17T11:03:03Z
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Made available on2008-06-05
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Made available on2015-12-01T10:32:11Z
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Made available on2022-11-17T11:03:03Z
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Date of first publication2006
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Abstract / DescriptionChild maltreatment, which includes both child abuse and child neglect, is a major social problem. This paper focuses on measuring the effects of child maltreatment on crime using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). We focus on crime because it is one of the most socially costly potential outcomes of maltreatment, and because the proposed mechanisms linking maltreatment and crime are relatively well elucidated in the literature. Our work addresses many limitations of the existing literature on child maltreatment. First, we use a large national sample, and investigate different types of abuse in a similar framework. Second, we pay careful attention to identifying the causal impact of abuse, by using a variety of statistical methods that make differing assumptions. These methods include: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), propensity score matching estimators, and twin fixed effects. Finally, we examine the extent to which the effects of maltreatment vary with socio-economic status (SES), gender, and the severity of the maltreatment. We find that maltreatment approximately doubles the probability of engaging in many types of crime. Low SES children are both more likely to be mistreated and suffer more damaging effects. Boys are at greater risk than girls, at least in terms of increased propensity to commit crime. Sexual abuse appears to have the largest negative effects, perhaps justifying the emphasis on this type of abuse in the literature. Finally, the probability of engaging in crime increases with the experience of multiple forms of maltreatment as well as the experience of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigation.en
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Persistent Identifierhttps://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16553
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1103
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8975
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Language of contenteng
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Is part ofIZA Discussion Paper Series No. 2063
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Is part of seriesForschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;2063
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Keyword(s)Kindesmisshandlungde
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Keyword(s)Kriminalitätde
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Keyword(s)Kindesmisshandlungde
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Keyword(s)Kriminalitätde
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Keyword(s)maltreatmenten
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Keyword(s)child abuseen
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Keyword(s)crimeen
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleDoes Child Abuse Cause Crime?en
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DRO typereport
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Visible tag(s)PsyDok