Temperature and Maltreatment of Young Children

Abstract We estimate the impacts of temperature on alleged and substantiated child maltreatment among young children using administrative data from state child protective services agencies. Leveraging short-term weather variation, we find increases in the number of young children involved in cases of alleged and substantiated maltreatment during hot periods. Additional analysis identifies neglect as the temperature-sensitive maltreatment type, and we find some evidence that adaptation via air conditioning mitigates this relationship. Given that climate change will increase exposure to extreme temperatures, our findings speak to additional costs of climate change among the most vulnerable.