Hidden Violence: How COVID-19 School Closures Reduced the Reporting of Child Maltreatment

Francisco Cabrera-Hernandez and María Padilla-Romo ()
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María Padilla-Romo: Department of Economics, University of Tennessee, https://sites.google.com/site/mariaspadillaromo/

No 2020-02, Working Papers from University of Tennessee, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study examines how school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the reporting of child maltreatment in Mexico City. We use a rich panel dataset on incident-level crime reports and victim characteristics and exploit the di erential effects between school-age children and older individuals. While financial and mental distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic may result in additional cases of child maltreatment, synthetic control and di erence-in-di erences estimations document an average reduction in child maltreatment reports of 21% and 30%, respectively, with larger reductions among females and in higher-poverty municipalities. These results highlight the important role education professionals in school settings play in the early detection and reporting of domestic violence against school-age children.

Keywords: Child maltreatment; Domestic Violence; COVID-19; School closures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I29 I31 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2020-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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http://web.utk.edu/~jhollad3/RePEc/2020-02.pdf First version, 2020 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ten:wpaper:2020-02

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