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Abstract
Background Children in households experiencing poverty are disproportionately exposed to maltreatment. Income support policies have been associated with reductions in child abuse and neglect. The advance child tax credit (CTC) payments may reduce child maltreatment by improving the economic security of some families. No national studies have examined the association between advance CTC payments and child abuse and neglect. This study examines the association between the advance CTC payments and child abuse and neglect-related contacts to the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline.
Methods A time series study of contacts to the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline between January 2019 and December 2022 was used to examine the association between the payments and hotline contacts. An interrupted time series (ITS) exploiting the variation in the advance CTC payments was estimated using fixed effects.
Results The CTC advance payments were associated with an immediate 13.8% (95% CI −17.5% to −10.0%) decrease in contacts to the hotline in the ITS model. Following the expiration of the advance CTC payments, there was a significant and gradual 0.1% (95% CI +0.0% to +0.2%) daily increase in contacts. Sensitivity analyses found significant reductions in contacts following each payment, however, the reductions were associated with the last three of the six total payments.
Conclusion These findings suggest the advance CTC payments may reduce child abuse and neglect-related hotline contacts and continue to build the evidence base for associations between income-support policies and reductions in child abuse and neglect.
- Policy
- Policy analysis
- Child abuse
- Violence
Data availability statement
No data are available. Data were obtained from the NCAH. Researchers may reach out to NCAH for more information on obtaining this data.
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Data availability statement
No data are available. Data were obtained from the NCAH. Researchers may reach out to NCAH for more information on obtaining this data.
Footnotes
Contributors MMF is guarantor for this research. MMF, MC, and CD conceptualized the study. MMF, MC, and HZK aggregated and cleaned the data. MMF, CD, and XZ conducted the analyses. All authors contributed to the data analysis plan, interpretation of the results, and review of the manuscript.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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