Toward a science of community intervention.

Most programs for preventing child maltreatment have relied largely or exclusively on individual- and family-level interventions. However, the absence of community-level strategies conflicts with a growing body of research showing the importance of community factors in the prevalence of child abuse and neglect. Parents trying to cope with dangerous community conditions may become too punitive or, conversely, insufficiently watchful. In short, parents rearing children in weak communities have a hard job to do. Conversely, however, supportive communities can mitigate the threats posed by risky environments. Programmatic experience and the research program in Strong Communities for Children suggest some possible directions. The study also indicates reasons that the generation and application of community research have been slow, and suggests steps to remediate these problems.