Child abuse increased as economy crashed

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44573194/ns/health/#.TnfWQOyKJhk

By Frederik Joelving
updated 9/19/2011 12:01:41 AM ET

As the U.S. economy began to tank, the number of abused kids landing in the hospital with severe brain injuries spiked, a new study shows.

[...]

Although there is no proof that financial hardship itself is causing the uptick in abuse, earlier research has tied parental stress to child maltreatment.

“Living in poverty for parents can be very stressful,” Gershoff, of the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health. “And that in turn leads to harsher parenting.”

[...]

From 2004 to 2009, there were 422 children diagnosed with what doctors call “abusive head trauma.” The majority ended up in the intensive care unit, and 16 percent died of their injuries.

The children’s average age was nine months.

In the three years leading up to the crash in December 2007, the rate of abusive head injuries was 8.9 per year per 100,000 kids. After the crash, the number jumped to 14.7 per 100,000.

[...]

It’s unclear how to account for the findings. But Berger said that fewer resources might have forced mothers to leave their babies with people who don’t usually take care of them -- like fathers or male caretakers.

“The number one perpetrators are fathers and male caretakers,” she said. “Very few perpetrators are mothers. It’s the people that mothers give their kids to that end up being the perpetrator.”

Gershoff said the young age of the victims suggests crying might have caused the abuse. If a caretaker shakes a baby violently to make him or her stop crying, that may lead to “shaken baby syndrome,” in which the brain bumps up against the skull it causes brain damage and bleeding.

She said babies only cry for five reasons: Because they are hungry, tired, bored, in pain or need a fresh diaper. If none of that helps, Gershoff added, it’s all right to leave them in the crib as long as the baby is safe.

“Just taking a break from that sound, walk out and then come back when you have calmed down,” she advised.

Meanwhile, Berger said, the government is not doing much to help disadvantaged parents cope with financial hardship.

“We have actually increased their stress by decreasing programs to help infants and young children,” she said, adding that there have been cuts in daycare and child benefits.

“When people are stressed in this country, for instance during a hurricane, as a society we provide help to those people. Here we have an economic recession and what happens during that time is we actually pull back,” she said. “We need to really think about what the outcome is going to be when we cut programs that help infants and young children.”

tags: child abuse
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