Community Level

The community incorporates different settings that can contribute to abusing children such as schools, neighbourhoods, and workplaces. Gilbert and colleagues (2009) stated that the community environment appears to have a small to moderate impact in addition to family and child characteristics. A UK cohort study by Jaffee et al. (2007) identified the risk factors of living under high neighbourhood ‘stress’, which was demonstrated by criminality, low social cohesion, and informal social control. Similarly, a systematic review by Sellstrom and Bremberg (2006) stated that there is an association between neighbourhood socioeconomic status and social climate that contributed by 10% to the risk of child maltreatment Different studies have shown that poverty increase the odds ratio  of maltreatment at both individual and community level (Coulton, Korbin, & Su, 1999; Drake & Pandey, 1996; Kotch et al., 1995; Lee & Goerge, 1999; Sledjeski, Dierker, Bird, & Canino, 2009; Trani & Cannings, 2013; Zelenko, Lock, Kraemer, & Steiner, 2000).