Overcrowding in the Home and Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment is a critical global concern with significant implications for child development and well-being. This study examines the relationship between household overcrowding and violence against children, focusing on the distinct effects of adult and child overcrowding. Using longitudinal data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ELPI) in Chile for 2010 and 2012, the analysis includes 11,462 child-caregiver pairs, with children aged 6–60 months. Violence was measured through observed psychological and physical acts by caregivers, while overcrowding was quantified as the number of people, adults, and children per bedroom. Fixed-effects models were employed to account for unobserved, time-invariant factors. The results show that an additional child per bedroom increases the likelihood of physical violence by 3.5 percentage points and psychological violence by 2.9 percentage points, though the effect is not significant. Conversely, an additional adult per bedroom reduces psychological violence by 4.4 percentage points and physical violence by 4.9 percentage points. These findings highlight the protective effects of adult overcrowding and the risks associated with child overcrowding. We also find a positive correlation between children per room and mothers' distress, which could explain some of the violence towards children. Public policies should prioritize reducing child overcrowding and enhancing adult support to mitigate the risks of child maltreatment