Factors Influencing School Social Workers’ Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Behaviors
School social workers (SSWers) play a central role in child abuse and neglect (CAN) reporting, yet few empirical studies have examined factors that influence SSWers' reporting practices. Using data from a national survey of 455 SSWers, this study examined how training, bias awareness, and beliefs about child protective services (CPS) influence SSWers' CAN reporting behavior. The role of individual-level and school-level demographic factors was also considered. Findings indicated that SSWers who were White (OR = 1.61, <i>p</i> = .034), OR = 0.77, <i>p</i> = .004), worked in a school serving higher proportions of low-income students (OR = 1.2, <i>p</i> = .002), and had higher levels of satisfaction with CPS (OR = 1.26, <i>p</i> = .013) and mandated reporting (OR = 0.74, <i>p</i> = .003) had significantly higher CAN reporting frequency. No statistically significant association was found between participants' self-report that their prior mandated reporter (MR) trainings included some form of anti-bias content and participants' awareness of their own biases. Results suggest individual-level factors impact reporting decisions; implications for research and training are addressed.
Authors
- Erin Sugrue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5503-7343)
- Minhae Cho
- Ashley-Marie H. Daftary
Institutions
- Augsburg University (US)
- University of Nevada, Reno (US)
- University of Augsburg (DE)
- University of Memphis (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Child Maltreatment
- Published
- 2026-03-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595261430083
- Primary Topic
- Child Abuse and Trauma
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00