Concordance Between Self-Reported Maltreatment and Court Records of Abuse or Neglect Among High-Risk Youths

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 96; no. 10; pp. 1849 - 1853
• Main Authors: Swahn, Monica H, Whitaker, Daniel J, Pippen, Courtney B, Leeb, Rebecca T, Teplin, Linda A, Abram, Karen M, McClelland, Gary M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01.10.2006; American Public Health Association; American Journal of Public Health 2006
• Subjects: Adolescent; African Americans; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child abuse & neglect; Child Abuse - statistics & numerical data; Children & youth; Confidence intervals; Court records; Crime - statistics & numerical data; Detention centers; Ethnicity; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gender; Humans; Illinois; Interviews; Male; Medical sciences; Medical treatment; Miscellaneous; Psychology, Adolescent; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Questionnaires; Race; Racial differences; Reproducibility of Results; Research and Practice; Risk Assessment; Risk Management - statistics & numerical data; Self report; Studies; Illinois; USA, Illinois, Cook Cty; USA, Illinois; Africa; Human; Justice; Evaluation; High risk; Abuse; Self evaluation; Neglect; Court record; Mistreatment; Concordance; Adolescent; Risk factor; Legal aspect; Public health
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.058230

We examined the concordance between measures of self-reported maltreatment and court records of abuse or neglect in a sample of detained youths. Data were collected by the Northwestern Juvenile Project and include interviews from 1829 youths aged 10-18 years. Participants were newly detained youths in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Illinois between 1995 and 1998. Self-reported cases of child maltreatment were compared with court records of abuse or neglect in the Cook County judicial system. We found that among detained youths, 16.6% of those who reported any maltreatment, 22.2% of those who reported the highest level of maltreatment, and 25.1% of those who reported that they required medical treatment as a result of maltreatment had a court record of abuse or neglect. Among those with any self-reported maltreatment, girls (vs boys) and African Americans (vs Whites) were more likely to have a court record (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=2.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.53, 3.09; and AOR=2.12; 95% CI=1.23, 3.63, respectively). Official records seriously underestimate the prevalence of maltreatment, which indicates that multiple data sources are needed to document the true prevalence of maltreatment.