State paid family leave policies and infant maltreatment.

BACKGROUND: Growing research points to economic policies as protective mechanisms for vulnerable families. Research on pediatric abusive head trauma suggests that paid family leave (PFL) may protect infants in the general population from physical abuse.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of state-level paid family leave policies with infant (ages 0-1) maltreatment rates.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A state-level panel dataset was constructed from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (2002-2019) data on infant maltreatment investigations among four states with PFL (California, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island) and 36 states without PFL.

METHODS: A piecewise longitudinal model and a nested model comparison were conducted to estimate the treatment effect of PFL on the population rate of infant maltreatment investigations. Supplementary analyses examined the moderating effect of three covariates.

RESULT: PFL reduced the linear rate of change in infant maltreatment rates in the states where it was enacted by a factor of 0.979 for each year post-policy implementation compared to states without such policies, B = -0.021, SE = 0.008, 95 % CI = [-0.036,-0.005]. Examining treatment states only, the slope of infant maltreatment became significantly shallower post-policy implementation, χ2 (1) = 3.178, p = .075. Interactions testing the moderating effects of family poverty and adults with less than high school education were significant, B = -0.304, 95 % CI = [-0.564,-0.052]; B = -0.511, 95 % CI = [-0.799,-0.249], respectively.

CONCLUSION: Results suggest that PFL has a beneficial effect on infant maltreatment rates and add to growing evidence that policies aimed to support household economic stability could be a vital child maltreatment prevention policy tool.