Suffering in silence: How COVID-19 school closures inhibit the reporting of child maltreatment
Suffering in silence: How COVID-19 school closures inhibit the reporting of child maltreatment
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104258
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发表时间：
2020-10-01
影响因子：
9.8
通讯作者：
Wallace, Cullen T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Baron, E. Jason;Goldstein, Ezra G.;Wallace, Cullen T.
为了对抗 COVID-19 的传播，美国许多中小学取消了课程并将教学转移到网上。这项研究探讨了 COVID-19 学校关闭带来的一个尚未探索的后果：虐待儿童受害者与虐待指控的第一来源——学校工作人员之间的联系断裂。使用佛罗里达州当前的县级数据。我们估计了 2020 年 3 月和 4 月（佛罗里达州学校停课的前两个月）虐待儿童指控的反事实分布。虽然人们预计 COVID-19 造成的经济、精神和身体压力会导致更多虐待儿童案件，但我们发现，这两个月报告的实际指控数量比预期少了约 15,000 起 (27%)。我们利用学区人员配置和支出的详细数据集来表明，观察到的指控数量下降主要是由于学校关闭所致。最后，我们讨论了我们的研究结果对围绕学校重新开放的辩论的政策影响，并提出了一些可能减轻学校关闭的隐性成本的应对措施。 (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. 保留所有权利。
To combat the spread of COVID-19, many primary and secondary schools in the United States canceled classes and moved instruction online. This study examines an unexplored consequence of COVID-19 school closures: the broken link between child maltreatment victims and the number one source of reported maltreatment allegations-school personnel. Using current, county-level data from Florida. we estimate a counterfactual distribution of child maltreatment allegations for March and April 2020, the first two months in which Florida schools dosed. While one would expect the financial, mental, and physical stress due to COVID-19 to result in additional child maltreatment cases, we find that the actual number of reported allegations was approximately 15,000 lower (27%) than expected for these two months. We leverage a detailed dataset of school district staffing and spending to show that the observed decline in allegations was largely driven by school closures. Finally, we discuss policy implications of our findings for the debate surrounding school reopenings and suggest a number of responses that may mitigate this hidden cost of school closures. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.