TY - JOUR
T1 - Poverty Indicators in the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Child File
T2 - Challenges and Opportunities
AU - Jones, Dylan
AU - Drake, Brett
AU - Kim, Hyunil
AU - Chen, Jun Hong
AU - Font, Sarah
AU - Putnam-Hornstein, Emily
AU - Barth, Richard P.
AU - Huang, Tzu Hsin
AU - Jonson-Reid, Melissa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - Purpose: The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File, the only national dataset cataloging child maltreatment reports. It includes variables representing economic distress frequently used in published research. At the national level, these variables are demonstrably implausible, substantially underestimating economic distress. Method: This paper reviews recent work using these variables, analyzes the NCANDS data directly, demonstrates why the economic variables in NCANDS are unusable at a national level, and provides recommendations for incorporating economic measures using NCANDS. Results: We find 19 articles that have used these variables within the past 10 years. Most states provide implausible estimates. Economic measures can be incorporated into NCANDS data by either subsetting to s states with plausible estimates of these variables in given years, or appending county-level economic Census data. Discussion: Without addressing these variables’ issues in plausibility, use of them will yield biased estimates.
AB - Purpose: The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File, the only national dataset cataloging child maltreatment reports. It includes variables representing economic distress frequently used in published research. At the national level, these variables are demonstrably implausible, substantially underestimating economic distress. Method: This paper reviews recent work using these variables, analyzes the NCANDS data directly, demonstrates why the economic variables in NCANDS are unusable at a national level, and provides recommendations for incorporating economic measures using NCANDS. Results: We find 19 articles that have used these variables within the past 10 years. Most states provide implausible estimates. Economic measures can be incorporated into NCANDS data by either subsetting to s states with plausible estimates of these variables in given years, or appending county-level economic Census data. Discussion: Without addressing these variables’ issues in plausibility, use of them will yield biased estimates.
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U2 - 10.1177/10497315231179658
DO - 10.1177/10497315231179658
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85163021690
SN - 1049-7315
VL - 34
SP - 325
EP - 337
JO - Research on Social Work Practice
JF - Research on Social Work Practice
IS - 3
ER -