Assessing the association between multiple parental alcohol events and the risk of being maltreated children in a New Zealand population-based birth cohort
Romeo, Jose S.
Assessing the association between multiple parental alcohol events and the risk of being maltreated children in a New Zealand population-based birth cohort Jose S. Romeo, Taisia Huckle, Vinita Lesley and Nuttanan Wichitaksorn - Wiley, 2025 - Drug and Alcohol Review .
Addiction, 2025, 120(4): 669-675
Background and aims
Child maltreatment is an important component of alcohol’s harm to others. No previous studies have assessed the association between multiple parental alcohol events and child maltreatment. This study aimed to measure the impact of parental alcohol-attributable events on the incidence rate of child maltreatment events over the span of childhood and adolescence in New Zealand.
Design, setting and participants
Longitudinal analysis using the birth cohort data of all live births (n = 58 359) in New Zealand in 2000, with the cohort followed until age 17 years using linked data from the Statistics New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) from 1995 to 2017.
Measurements
Zero-inflated negative binomial and count regression models were used to measure the association between the number of child maltreatment events [collected from publicly funded hospital discharges, Programme for the Integration of Mental Health Data (PRIMHD), Oranga Tamariki, Children’s Action Plan (CAP) and police data sets] and parental exposure to alcohol-attributable hospitalization or service use for mental health/addiction. Potential confounders were included for parents and children.
Findings
Of 58 359 children in the cohort, 86% (50 319) had not experienced any documented maltreatment events. Among those at risk of being maltreated children, the maltreatment incidence rate ratio increased by 35.2% (95% confidence interval = 18.1–55.6%) if a child was exposed to parental alcohol-attributable hospitalization or service use for mental health addiction events. For each additional parental alcohol-attributable hospitalization or service use for mental health or addiction, the risk of being maltreated children increased by 12.8%.
Conclusions
In New Zealand, hazardous alcohol consumption by parents appears to be associated with child maltreatment alongside other contributing factors, in particular parental lower educational attainment. (Authors' abstract). Record #9080
ALCOHOL-RELATED HARM
ALCOHOL USE
CHILD ABUSE
DATA ANALYSIS
HAUORA HINENGARO
HAURANGITANGA
MĀTUA
MENTAL HEALTH
PARENTS
PATU TAMARIKI
RONGOĀ WHAKAIRANGI
TATAURANGA
NEW ZEALAND
Assessing the association between multiple parental alcohol events and the risk of being maltreated children in a New Zealand population-based birth cohort Jose S. Romeo, Taisia Huckle, Vinita Lesley and Nuttanan Wichitaksorn - Wiley, 2025 - Drug and Alcohol Review .
Addiction, 2025, 120(4): 669-675
Background and aims
Child maltreatment is an important component of alcohol’s harm to others. No previous studies have assessed the association between multiple parental alcohol events and child maltreatment. This study aimed to measure the impact of parental alcohol-attributable events on the incidence rate of child maltreatment events over the span of childhood and adolescence in New Zealand.
Design, setting and participants
Longitudinal analysis using the birth cohort data of all live births (n = 58 359) in New Zealand in 2000, with the cohort followed until age 17 years using linked data from the Statistics New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) from 1995 to 2017.
Measurements
Zero-inflated negative binomial and count regression models were used to measure the association between the number of child maltreatment events [collected from publicly funded hospital discharges, Programme for the Integration of Mental Health Data (PRIMHD), Oranga Tamariki, Children’s Action Plan (CAP) and police data sets] and parental exposure to alcohol-attributable hospitalization or service use for mental health/addiction. Potential confounders were included for parents and children.
Findings
Of 58 359 children in the cohort, 86% (50 319) had not experienced any documented maltreatment events. Among those at risk of being maltreated children, the maltreatment incidence rate ratio increased by 35.2% (95% confidence interval = 18.1–55.6%) if a child was exposed to parental alcohol-attributable hospitalization or service use for mental health addiction events. For each additional parental alcohol-attributable hospitalization or service use for mental health or addiction, the risk of being maltreated children increased by 12.8%.
Conclusions
In New Zealand, hazardous alcohol consumption by parents appears to be associated with child maltreatment alongside other contributing factors, in particular parental lower educational attainment. (Authors' abstract). Record #9080
ALCOHOL-RELATED HARM
ALCOHOL USE
CHILD ABUSE
DATA ANALYSIS
HAUORA HINENGARO
HAURANGITANGA
MĀTUA
MENTAL HEALTH
PARENTS
PATU TAMARIKI
RONGOĀ WHAKAIRANGI
TATAURANGA
NEW ZEALAND