@article{ref1,
title="Internet searches for terms related to child maltreatment increase during CoViD-19: an infodemiology approach",
journal="JMIR pediatrics and parenting",
year="2021",
author="Riem, Madelon and De Carli, Pietro and Guo, Jing and Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian and van IJzendoorn, Marinus and Lodder, Paul",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Background. Previous studies on the impact of COVID-19 indicate an increased risk for child maltreatment during the lockdown, although data on the scope of this problem are still scarce. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: Objectives. We examined internet searches indicative of abusive parental behaviors before and after the WHO declaration of a COVID-19 pandemic (March 11th 2020) and lockdown measures followed in many countries across the world. <br><br>METHODS: Methods. Using Google Trends, we inferred search trends between December 28th 2018 and December 27th 2020 for queries consisting of &quot;mother&quot;, &quot;father&quot; or &quot;parents&quot; combined with each of the 11 maltreatment-related verbs used in the Conflict Tactics Scale Parent-Child version. Raw search counts from the Google Trends data were estimated using Comscore. <br><br>RESULTS: Results. Of all 33 search terms, 28 terms showed increases in counts after the lockdown. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions. These findings indicate a strong increase in internet searches relating to occurrence, causes or consequences of emotional and physical maltreatment since the lockdown and call for the use of maltreatment-related queries to direct parents or children to online information and support.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2561-6722",
doi="10.2196/27974",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/27974"
}