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The over-arching purpose of this dissertation was to assess the way in which maternal stressors contributed to occurrences of child neglect among a sample of high risk mothers. The second aim was to examine whether maternal stressors varied based on race. The third and final aim sought to ascertain whether social support moderated the relationship between maternal stressors and child neglect. This cross-sectional study utilized data from The Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). The study sample (N = 585) was predominantly comprised of impoverished African American mothers. Logistic regression analysis results revealed that maternal stressors such as substance use, employment status, marital status, and child’s behavioral health concerns significantly contributed to the occurrence of child neglect. In addition, the study found maternal stressors varied based on race. There were significant differences between African American and Caucasian mothers regarding their experience of maternal stressors and their subsequent child neglect perpetration; in this high risk sample, Caucasian mothers had higher rates of child neglect perpetration. Substance use was the primary predictor of child neglect among African American mothers while child behavioral health concerns and single motherhood were the primary predictors of child neglect among Caucasian mothers. Despite previous empirical evidence, in this population social support did not moderate the relationship between child neglect and maternal stress. Implications for policy and practice are further discussed.

This paper was designed to examine the effect of social support on child maltreatment among at-risk mothers. We also explored whether the association between the social support and child maltreatment was affected by the mother’s substance abuse history. This cross-sectional study utilized secondary data from LONGSCAN. The study sample (n = 335) was comprised primarily of impoverished African American mothers. Logistic regression analysis results showed social support reduced the likelihood of child maltreatment for both mothers who had histories of substance use and those who did not. Implications of the findings are further discussed. Keywords: child maltreatment, social support, mothers, substance use, stress