Violence against children in Guadalajara, Mexico: A public health perspective

Introduction: Cases of child abuse and neglect have been increased in Mexico, but few studies have been carried out to know the factors associated to this health problem. Aim & Material: This study seeks to identify social factors associated to child abuse and neglect and to construct a predictor model of the child maltreatment in children under seven years old in Guadalajara, Mexico. A case-control study was designed; cases were randomly selected from the register of maltreated children under 7 years old by the DIF (the public institution that provides assistance to families in Mexico) in period 2005-2006 (n=205) and controls were randomly chosen from the register of children assisted in others DIF programs in the same period (n=379). A multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Results: In the multivariate analysis six factors were statistically associated with the child maltreatment: maternal drug addiction (OR=15.3; CI: 1.8-127.6), mother without steady partner (OR=3.0; CI: 1.9-4.6), bad family relationship (OR=1.3; CI: 1.1-4.2), the child makes “tantrums” (OR=1.8; CI: 1.2-2.8, the child’ behavior irritates the parents (OR=1.5; CI: 1.1-2.1) and overcrowding (OR=1.5; CI: 1.1-2.2). Conclusions: According to the constructed model, if a child would be simultaneously exposed of all these risk factors, it would have a very high probability to be a maltreated child. The findings show that public health institutions can play an important role to design timely intervention strategies directed to avoid or reduce the cases of child abuse and neglect.