Servicios POSIX de gestión de procesos ligeros

A summary of notification numbers and incidence of child protection classifications of abuse and neglect in the population (aged < 48 months) is included in Table 4.2a. As expected, neglect was the most common type of maltreatment notified, or maltreatment classification provided, for this age group. Notifications for neglect occurred at a rate of 7.6 per 100 children in the general population. There were 758 notifications (45.3%) with a primary neglect classification and an additional 106 notifications with a

secondary classification of neglect making a total of 864 (51.6%) in total.28 Emotional abuse (EA) was the second most common maltreatment type, with 642 notifications given a primary classification of EA (33.4%) and an additional 132 secondary

classifications for EA, making a total of 774 (46.2%). A total of 305 notifications were classified as physical abuse (18.2%) and 88 notifications (5.25%) were classified as sexual abuse. There were 40 notifications (2.3%) which were not classified according to type of abuse or neglect.

For the sake of argument, if exposure to family violence were classified as a form of psychological or emotional neglect rather than emotional abuse, the notification rate for neglect would be substantially higher. Under the assumption that reports of emotional abuse from police (at the very least) relate to exposure to family violence, the

notification rate for neglect (864 plus 279= 1143 notifications) would make up 68% of all notifications. In that case, the notification rate for neglect would be approximately 10 notifications per 100 infants under 48 months of age in the general population. This would be regarded as a minimum rate considering that a large proportion of the remaining notifications of ‘emotional abuse’, especially from non-government organisations, would also be referring to exposure to family violence, rather than emotional abuse per se.

28 _{Once all the secondary classifications are included, the total percentages will be greater than 100% of}

Table 4.2a: Number, proportion and rate of notifications for each maltreatment type Neglect/Abuse Primary No. Ns Secondary No. Ns Proportion of Total Nsa Incidence % pop. Neglect 758 106 0.516 7.6 Em. Abuse 642 132 0.462 6.8 Phys Abuse 197 108 0.182 2.7 Sex Abuse 77 11 0.052 0.8 Total 1674 357 - -

a. Refers to proportion of total number of notifications provided with abuse/neglect classifications

Child protection population differences

For the purposes of comparison between the 0–4 age group and the general child protection population, the maltreatment types notified for the SIs in the 2005 calendar year and for the general CP population in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 data collection periods are presented as numbers and proportions of all (classified) notifications for the period in Table 4.2b.

The number of notifications for the SIs calculated in this study represents approximately 13.2 percent of the total number of notifications reported for Tasmania in the 2005–06 collection period or 15.9 percent of the total for the 2004-05 period (AIHW 2006, 2007). Given that the two regions covered by the study represent only half the state, a rough estimate of the proportion of SI notifications within the child protection

population in these two regions would be approximately 30 percent. These percentages are only meant to provide an indication of the proportions of notifications for this age group within the general child protection population – the data presented here and the Department’s data were sourced at different points in time, although they were

reportedly manually collected (according to Jacob & Fanning 2006). (Notification data available from the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability services in Queensland, shows that children in the 0–4 age group account for 42.6 percent of the notifications for the general child protection population in that state.29 )

29 _{Calculated from notification data (excluding notifications relating to unborn children) available on}

Queensland Department of Child safety website, available at:

http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/resources/childsafety/about-us/performance/child- protection/notifications-4.xls

Table 4.2b: Comparison of classified maltreatment types for the Subject Infants in 2005 (SIs 2005) and the general Child Protection populations for 2004-05 (CPP 04-5) and 2005-06 (CPP 05-6) – numbers and proportions

No. of Notifications Proportions Neglect/Abuse SIs 2005 CPP 04-05 CPP 05-06 SIs 2005 CPP 04-05 CPP 05-06 Neglect 758 4179 3528 0.453 0.394 0.392 Em. Abuse 642 3001 2858 0.384 0.283 0.317 Phys Abuse 197 2129 1655 0.118 0.201 0.184 Sex Abuse 77 1309 961 0.046 0.123 0.107 Total 1674 10618 9002 1.000 1.000 1.000

The differences between the types of maltreatment being notified for the SIs and the general Child Protection Population (CPP) were explored. Ideally the latter should be represented by the total notifications for the 2005 calendar year, but the relevant DHHS statistics are collated for financial years. Consequently, the data sets used for

comparison are the DHHS figures supplied in Jacob and Fanning (2006) for 2004–05 and 2005–06 (Jacob & Fanning 2006, p. 35)30. And because the profiles of proportions of abuse types notified in each of these periods were found to differ (p = 2.4 x 10-8 with a chi-squared test), they cannot be combined to form a representative profile that might be typical for the 2005 calendar year. Accordingly, both data sets were considered alternative bases to which the SI-05 profile could be compared. Chi-squared tests were applied to compare the SIs–2005 numbers of Table 4.2b with, in turn, the CPP 04–05 and CPP 05–06 numbers. Both tests returned p-values too small to be registered, which suggests strongly that the pattern of abuse types in the group of SIs is different to that of the general CP population.

To gain insight into where the differences in maltreatment type proportions lay, simultaneous 95% confidence intervals were constructed to indicate which of those differences could reasonably said to be real and not due to random variations. This was

30 _{There is a discrepancy between the total number of notifications analysed according to maltreatment}

type for 2005-06 in Jacob and Fanning (2006) and the AIHW data because the analysed data was collected at a different point in time to the AIHW Child Protection data (see Jacob & Fanning 2006, p. 35). The total number of notifications for 2005-06 was 13,029 (AIHW 2007).

achieved with an analytical approach described by Goodman (1964)31 _{– the results are} shown in Table 4.2c.

Table 4.2c: Calculated simultaneous confidence intervals (95%) for the difference in proportions of maltreatment between the SIs and the CPP for 2004-05 and 2005-06

A/N Type Interval Points SIs-CPP 04-5 Lower SIs-CPP 04-5 Upper SIs-CPP 05-6 Lower SIs-CPP 05-6 Upper Estimate 0.059 0.061 Neglect Bounds 0.022 0.097 0.023 0.099 Estimate 0.101 0.066 Emotional Bounds 0.065 0.137 0.029 0.103 Estimate -0.083 -0.066 Phys. Abuse Bounds -0.108 -0.058 -0.092 -0.041 Estimate -0.077 -0.061 Sex. Abuse Bounds -0.095 -0.06 -0.078 -0.043 Notes:

1. The Estimate point is the best estimate of the average difference and should be approximately half-way between the lower and upper bounds of the confidence interval. 2. The shaded cells are intervals which exclude zero – and therefore the corresponding difference can be claimed to be truly a difference at the 5% significance level.

Significant differences between the Subject Infants and each of the two Child Protection populations were found across the board for all types of maltreatment. The proportions of neglect and emotional maltreatment notified for the SIs were found to be greater than the proportions for the general CP populations, with the significance levels of the differences in each case being 5% or better. The proportions of physical abuse and sexual abuse were found to be less for the SIs than those of the two CP populations, with corresponding levels of confidence that this difference is not due to chance. It is also worth noting that there were significant differences in the proportions of emotional maltreatment, physical abuse and sexual abuse between the two general Child

Protection populations, but not in those for neglect. The proportional differences for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 CP populations are included in the complete Table A4.2c

provided in Appendix C.

31 _{With the relatively small number of paired comparisons, most of the simultaneous confidence intervals}

are equivalent to individual ones constructed via normal approximations of binomial processes with Bonferroni adjusted p-values.

Secondary maltreatment classifications

Secondary maltreatment classifications were included in 357 or 20.8 percent of the total notifications (N=1714). A secondary maltreatment type was included in 40.1% of notifications with a primary classification of physical abuse, in 32.5% of notifications of sexual abuse, in 18.2% of notifications of neglect, and in 17.9% of all notifications of emotional abuse. Table 4.2e provides an overview of the number of secondary

maltreatment types for all notifications relating to the Subject Group in 2005.

Table 4.2e: Summary of secondary maltreatment classifications per primary maltreatment classification for all notifications for SIs in 2005.

Secondary Maltreatment (numbers)

Primary None Neglect. Emotional Abuse Physical Abuse Sexual Abuse Total Neg. 620 74 56 8 758 EA 527 69 44 2 642 PA 118 29 49 1 197 SA 52 8 9 8 77 Unc. 40 40 Total 1357 106 132 108 11 1714

For all notifications for which a secondary maltreatment was recorded, Table 4.2f shows the proportions of secondary maltreatment types included per primary maltreatment type, as percentages of row totals; and proportions of primary maltreatment type per secondary type, as percentages of column totals. Neglect as the primary maltreatment appears to be somewhat more strongly associated with emotional abuse as a secondary type of maltreatment (53.62% of the total secondaries) than with physical abuse (40.58% of the row total). As a secondary maltreatment type, neglect is also most strongly associated with emotional abuse (65.09% of column total), while only 27.36% of the total neglect secondaries are associated with notifications of physical abuse.

Emotional abuse as primary maltreatment type is also more strongly associated with neglect as a secondary (with 60% of the row total) than with physical abuse (38.26% of the row total). Emotional abuse is also more strongly associated with neglect (56.06%) than physical abuse (37.12%) as a secondary type of abuse. Physical abuse as the

primary maltreatment type is more strongly associated with emotional abuse (62.03%) when compared to its association with neglect (36.71%). However, as a secondary abuse type, physical abuse is more commonly associated with neglect (51.85% of column total) than it is with emotional abuse (with 40.74% of the total). As a primary abuse type, sexual abuse is associated with the other maltreatment types fairly equally but as a secondary abuse type, it is more closely associated with neglect (72.73%) than either physical (1.27%) or emotional abuse (1.74%).

Table 4.2f: Total secondary maltreatment classifications for each primary maltreatment classification for SIs in 2005 as percentages of row and column totals. (excluding cases with no secondary classifications)

Secondary Maltreatment (percentage of row totals)

Primary Neglect. Emotional Abuse Physical Abuse Sexual Abuse Total Neg. 0.00 53.62 40.58 5.80 100% EA 60.00 0.00 38.26 1.74 100% PA 36.71 62.03 0.00 1.27 100% SA 32.00 36.00 32.00 0.00 100% Total 29.69 36.97 30.25 3.08 100%

Secondary Maltreatment (percentages of column totals)

Primary Neglect Emotional Physical Sexual Total

Neg. 0.00 56.06 51.85 72.73 44.22

EA 65.09 0.00 40.74 18.18 37.46

PA 27.36 37.12 0.00 9.09 11.49

SA 7.55 6.82 7.41 0.00 4.49

Total 100% 100% 100% 100 % 100%

Age Groups within the Subject Group

When the four maltreatment types were apportioned among four different age groups [N1=232 (0-1); N2=169 (1-2); N3= 191 (2-3); N4=196 (3-4)], the proportion of neglect cases was highest at the youngest age (50.6%) and declined steadily as age increased (to 38. % in the 3-4 age group). As the proportion of neglect decreased with increasing age within each age group, the proportions of physical and sexual abuse cases each

increased. Table 4.2g provides a summary of the pattern of maltreatment types within the four age groups in numbers and proportions.

Table 4.2g: Numbers of notifications and proportions of maltreatment types per age group (N=1674 classified notifications)

Numbers

Age Group Neglect Emotional Physical Sexual Total

0-1 251 172 52 8 483 1-2 175 156 38 8 377 2-3 162 141 50 25 378 3-4 170 173 57 36 436 Total 758 642 197 77 1674 Proportions

Age Group Neglect Emotional Physical Sexual Total

0-1 0.520 0.356 0.108 0.017 1.000

1-2 0.464 0.414 0.101 0.021 1.000

2-3 0.429 0.373 0.132 0.066 1.000

3-4 0.390 0.397 0.131 0.083 1.000

Total 0.453 0.384 0.118 0.046 1.000

A chi-squared test of independence between abuse type and age group produced a (simulated) p-value of 10-6, which constitutes strong evidence that there is a dependence relationship between them. To detect which proportions of abuse type are likely to be different from one age group to the next, simultaneous 95% confidence intervals were constructed for the differences in proportions between every pair of age groups. This was performed again using Goodman’s method described previously. The results are presented in Table A4.2h.

There were significantly higher proportions of neglect notifications for infants less than 1 year old than there were for those aged 3-4 years (detected at the 5% significance level). Of some note also were the differences in proportions of sexual abuse between the 0–1 and 2–3 age groups, the 0-1 and 3-4 age groups, and between the 1–2 and 3–4 age groups, with the younger group in the paired comparisons having proportionately fewer notifications for sexual abuse than the older group in each pair (see Table A4.2h).

Gender

There was no perceivable difference in the numbers of notifications for males and females; nor were there any indications of gender differences for the type of

maltreatment being notified across the four age groups, except for a higher number and proportion of sexual abuse cases reported for females in the 2-3 and 3-4 age groups than there were for males. However, a chi-squared test of the contingency table of

notifications for sexual abuse could not detect a relationship between age and gender, probably due to the small numbers involved. A summary of the percentage of

maltreatment types according to age and gender are presented in Table A4.2i of Appendix C.