Common risk factors of maltreatment – are domestic violence, alcohol and other drug issues, mental health issues in the carer, housing issues and financial issues related to culture?

Some of the most common risk factors of child maltreatment (especially emotional abuse) are domestic violence, alcohol and other drug issues, mental health issues in the carer, housing issues and financial issues. For example, emotional abuse was the primary type of maltreatment in 1/20 (5 per cent) Chinese, 4/18 (22.2 per cent) Lebanese, 1/20 (5 per cent) Pacific Islander, 6/20 (30 per cent) Vietnamese, 3/20 (15 per cent) Aboriginal and 3/20 (15 per cent) Anglo case files, and in all cases the cause was attributed to exposure to domestic violence, alcohol and other drug abuse and diagnosed and undiagnosed mental health issues in the natural mother. Data on these five risk factors were scoped for in the case files. Importantly, they are all ‘generalist’ risk factors (rather than ‘cultural’ risk factors) because they occur in all families. Having said that, they interact with cultural factors for ethnic minorities (see each section below).