Mental Health, Substance Use, and Child Maltreatment

Mir M. Ali, Thanh Lu, Johanna Maclean and Angélica Meinhofer

No 32895, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Child maltreatment is a pressing concern in the United States, with more than four million children referred to child protective services in 2022. Reducing child maltreatment is a national health objective given the substantial, negative consequences for children who experience maltreatment, both in the short- and long-term. Parental mental health and substance use disorders are strongly associated with child maltreatment. In this study, we use administrative data over the period 2004 to 2021 to study the relationship between the number of mental health and substance use treatment centers per county and child maltreatment reports. Our findings provide evidence that better access to mental health and substance use treatment reduces child maltreatment reports. In particular, an 8% increase in the supply of treatment would reduce maltreatment reports by 1%. These findings suggest that recent and ongoing efforts by the federal government to expand mental health and substance use treatment availability may lead to reduced child maltreatment.

JEL-codes: H0 I0 K0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Note: AG CH EH LE PE
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