No student is eager to show her parents a less-than-stellar report card, but bad grades may put some children at risk for physical abuse.
A new study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics finds a nearly fourfold jump in verified physical child-abuse cases on Saturdays after report cards were released the previous Friday—suggesting they may have been punishments related to the grades.
Researchers analyzed the timing of report card releases and calls to a 24-hour child-abuse hotline in 64 counties across Florida during the 2015-16 school year.
If report cards dropped during the school week, there was no significant increase in confirmed child-abuse cases. But Friday report cards led to a big spike in Saturday reports of abuse.
