Child abuse is a natural epidemic affecting millions of children annually. A major step in stopping maltreatment is to identify, and intervene in, situations where abuse and neglect exist. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to contribute to the reduction of child abuse and neglect in this country. The specific objective of this study is to identify those factors which lead human service workers to report child abuse and neglect. Data will be collected from a sample of 600 social workers in the New York City metropolitan area by means of a mailed, structured, self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire measures variables within four domains of interest and the likelihood of reporting child maltreatment. That is, in all the cases, the children are young; there is physical hurt or violence to the child; and there is some risk of imminent harm. Respondents are asked to indicate the likelihood of their reporting each case. The primary hypothesis is that the likelihood of reporting child maltreatment is a joint function of the combination of a number of variables in four domains of law, worker experience and training, organizational culture, and the personal characteristics of the worker. The relationship between these combined variables and reporting child abuse and neglect is key to understanding the decision-making process in reporting child maltreatment. The findings from this study will be valuable in reducing the high incidence of non-reporting among professionals. These findings will also ultimately contribute to the protection and well being of children.
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