Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS–4)

4.3 Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Incidence ofMaltreatmentThis section reports differences in the incidence of maltreatment related tothree major racial and ethnic groups: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), andHispanic. 484.3.1 Racial and Ethnic Differences in Harm StandardMaltreatmentThe NIS–4 revealed several significant and statistically marginal differencesacross the racial/ethnic groups in the incidence of Harm Standard maltreatment.Table 4–3 provides the incidence rates for those categories of Harm Standardmaltreatment where these racial/ethnic differences emerged. 49,50Overall Harm Standard Maltreatment, Abuse, and NeglectWhite and Black children differed significantly in their rates of experiencingoverall Harm Standard maltreatment during the 2005–2006 NIS–4 study year. Anestimated 12.6 per 1,000 White children experienced Harm Standard maltreatmentcompared to 24.0 per 1,000 Black children. Thus, the incidence rate for Black childrenwas nearly 2 times the rate for White children. The rate for Black children was also48 Each of the other race categories had too few sample children to support independent estimates for thosegroups (i.e., American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, andmixed race), so analyses excluded those. Children in these groups represent a total of 11% of thosecountable under the Harm Standard and 9% of the children countable under the Endangerment Standard.The findings also exclude children with missing race/ethnicity information (9% of children countableunder the Harm Standard and for 15% of those countable under the Endangerment Standard).49 In each category of maltreatment or injury, decisions about the significance of differences relied on theBonferroni critical values for t. This adjusted for the multiplicity of the comparisons involved. AppendixD gives details concerning the statistical tests for the significance of racial/ethnic group differences.50 The incidence rate calculations used the following denominators, reflecting the average number (inthousands) of children in the general population in these groups during 2005 and 2006: 42,623 Whitechildren, 10,797 Black children, and 14,752 Hispanic children (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008e).4-22