Research Objectives: While focusing on inequality and its association with child maltreatment, studies in the special issue apply an increased level of methodological rigor by including some dimension of time or longitudinal design. Further, the unit of analysis varies across the papers with three major types of studies: (1) Individuals, caregivers and families (2) County level data (3) Cross-level interactions between children and family caregivers within their environment. Together, they offer a multilayered perspective on the processes that underlie the relationship between rising economic inequality and child maltreatment. |