Theorizing and testing the measurement model and efficacy of informal social control of child neglect : a nationally representative study

Abstract

Research within the community-based child protection approach has centered on investigating the protective effects of intervention from ordinary neighborhood residents through informal social control. Evidence of the protective effects of informal social control in child neglect has often been null, due to measurement errors, and the lack of a context-based model to study informal social control in child neglect. Also, the available research does not demonstrate positive effects of informal social control in reducing child neglect. I argue that this is because research in informal social control presumes a rational-choice theory, expecting to find positive benefits of informal, negative, situational sanctions. The lack of evidence for positive effects of such negative sanctions is contrary to expectations derived from rational-choice theory. Unfortunately, little research has focused on the effects of informally mobilizing collective values/norms. This may be because normative orientations other than the individual norm of instrumental rationality cannot be conceptualized within rational-choice theories. My thesis aims to address these gaps in knowledge. I formulate a theory able to conceptualize community normative orientations and I examine the effects of their informal mobilization using a newly developed measurement model for informal social control in neglect. The study employed a mixed methods design; conducted qualitative river of life oral history interviews (n=32) with caregivers and cultural experts and administered a nationally representative survey of 1,100 female caregivers in Ghana. Thematic narrative, factor analysis, fixed and random effects regressions were the analysis approaches employed. This thesis is organized into three interrelated sections, containing eight studies/manuscripts. First, a systematic review of literature shows that informal social control is poorly studied in child neglect, mostly using measurement models that are designed for other forms of abuse. A context-based measurement model was developed, and evidence showed that protective informal social control dimension of the model can break the cycle of neglect episodes, but punitive informal social control is ineffective. The evidence contradicts the rational choice-theory conceptualization of the efficacy of informal social control. In the second section, I formulate a general theory, value-commitments theory, to theorize the efficacy of protective informal social control. The theory argues that desistance resulting from protective informal social control interventions is regulated by the implementation of value-commitments. Known violations of institutionalized values evoke feelings of shame and guilt. The presence of both guilt and shame when institutionalized social values are violated is confirmed by the findings of the qualitative interviews. The final section investigates the role of the collective value of Abiriwatia. The norms of community responsibility to childcare and community authority, measured by a new Abiriwatia scale, negatively associated with child neglect. Acts of protective informal social control in communities high in Abiriwatia will be common and can reduce neglect. I find that community-based child protection, through informal social control, is efficacious when norms against child neglect are present in the community and when they are mobilized effectively. My measurement and theory enable us to guide community neglect programs in direction that should prove to be effective in reducing child neglect.