Neighbourhoods, Networks and Child Abuse

Correspondence to Tony Vinson, The University of New South Wales, P O Box 1, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia 2033 Summary The ecological framework for the study of child abuse is brieflydescribed and the present stud—of two adjoining economicallydepressed localities with contrasting rates of child abuse—istheoretically located within the framework. The study focuseson the neighbourhood as a potential source of support for families,the study design emphasizing the character of the neighbourhoodsas social entities. The social character and reported childabuse histories of the two study neighbourhoods in Western Sydney,Australia, are presented, and the research instruments and proceduresused in a household survey, are described. Demographic data,parents'/carers' ratings of (i) the social environment, (ii)the locality as a place to raise children, (iii) transport andcommunication patterns, together with membership of nine sub-networksof each carer's support network, are analysed. The one outstandingdifference between the two localities was found to be the structureof the networks of the two samples of residents. In the areawith a higher rate of abuse there was a relative lack of connectionbetween more immediate (familial) and more distant parts ofthe social networks, a finding which parallels the results ofseveral earlier studies of clinical and non-clinical populations.