There may be a relationship between the spanking of children, the type of neighborhood the children live in and the likelihood of a report of abuse or neglect to Child Protective Services (CPS), according to a new study published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect.

The study looked at a sample of 2,267 children drawn from Princeton University’s Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Researchers at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University compared that group against a random sample of 4,789 births between 1998-2000 in 20 large U.S. cities.

Neighborhood cohesion refers to those “where neighbors are willing to help each other and generally get along.” The study determined that neighborhood cohesion – defined as places “where neighbors are willing to help each other and generally get along” – served as a protective factor against contact with CPS, the study found.

[For more on this story by Christie Renick, go to https://chronicleofsocialchang...ent-study-says/30472]