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Faculty

Neil B. Guterman, Ph.D.

Neil Guterman

- Research
- Biography
- Publications

Research

Child abuse and neglect remains an intractable problem in the U. S. There are reports of over six million suspected victims and more than 1,500 child maltreatment-related fatalities each year.  Equally worrying, children who have been physically abused or neglected are likely to experience later in life higher rates of crime, delinquency, substance abuse, school failure, depression and suicide. The expensive national child protection system not only is ineffective in preventing the trauma of child maltreatment, it also is coercive and stigmatizing.

Preventing child maltreatment before it occurs - and eliminating the need for expensive intervention and the risk of wider social problems - is at the core of Prof. Neil Guterman's research. An emerging preventive strategy that is being implemented in hundreds of communities throughout the United States offers hope for change, according to Guterman, the Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor at the School of Social Service Administration. Findings from the "early home visitation" approach suggest that delivering services directly to the homes of families around the time of a child's birth can prevent abuse and neglect from ever occurring.

Guterman is conducting several related studies on child abuse prevention, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Children's Bureau in the Department of Health & Human Services, and private foundations.  His "second generation" research on home visitation services is testing ways to improve the outcomes found in earlier studies on such services. Guterman is studying how growing parent social networks might help them better manage a series of challenges linked with risk for child abuse, including social isolation and potential involvement in domestic violence.

He is currently testing the social network strategy at two home visitation agencies in the Chicago area (Howard Area Community Center and Infant Welfare Society of Evanston), as well as three agencies in New York City. In his pilot work, Guterman observed a wide array of benefits for participating mothers, including reduced child abuse risk, better social support, lower parental stress, increased access to needed resources and better involvement from the father of the baby. What's more, mothers in the pilot group formed a self-sustaining mutual support group and became the core of the parent advisory board for the home visiting agency. These signs point to the power of early intervention to mobilize at-risk families and forge support systems that sustain the families and their surrounding communities.

Guterman's expertise in child abuse prevention has been tapped by a wide variety of local and national organizations: the U. S. Surgeon General's Office, the Centers for Disease Control, the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Prevent Child Abuse America, and the National Conference of State Legislatures, among others. He has published one of the benchmark books in the field, and is working on a second book on child abuse prevention that is expected to become the reference work for the field of child abuse prevention.

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Biography

Neil B. Guterman is the Mose and Sylvia Firestone Professor in the School of Social Service Administration and a Faculty Associate at Chapin Hall. His scholarly interests are concerned with services targeting children and violence, and he holds special interest in child abuse and neglect prevention, as well as children's exposure to violence outside the home. Professor Guterman has published numerous peer reviewed scholarly articles on these topics and is the author of Stopping Child Maltreatment before It Starts: Emerging Horizons in Early Home Visitation Services (Sage, 2001).

At SSA, Professor Guterman teaches courses in direct social work practice and serves as chair of the Institutional Review Board for SSA and Chapin Hall.

Professor Guterman currently directs two studies examining the effectiveness of strategies to prevent child abuse and neglect, funded by the CDC, and the Children's Bureau of DHHS. He is also conducting a study that examines the role of fathers in the etiology of physical child abuse and neglect, funded by NIH and the CDC. In addition, he is the Principal Investigator of a study examining adolescent's exposure to violence outside the home, funded by the CR Bronfman Foundation.

As a noted authority on children and violence exposure, his expertise has been tapped by the U. S. Surgeon General's Office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Prevent Child Abuse America, and the National Conference of State Legislatures. He has delivered a number of keynote speeches and has provided expert consultation and trainings to State and local governmental bodies, foundations, human service organizations and legal firms. As well, he consults as an editor to a number of professional journals including Child Abuse and Neglect, Social Work, American Journal of Public Health and he serves on the editorial board of Child Maltreatment.

Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Chicago, Professor Guterman served on the faculty of the Columbia University School of Social Work from 1993-2006, where he most recently was Associate Professor and Chair of the Doctoral Program. Prior to this, he was a Lady Davis Postdoctoral Fellow at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has provided direct clinical services to children and families in a wide variety of family and child service settings in Michigan, California, Israel, and New York City.

Professor Guterman holds a Ph.D. in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Michigan, as well as an M.S.W. in clinical practice with families and children, also from the University of Michigan. His B.A. is in psychology with highest honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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Publications
  • Cameron, M.C., Elkins, J. & Guterman, N.B. 2006. "Assessment of trauma in children and youth." In Working with traumatized youth in child welfare, ed. N. Boyd-Webb. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Guterman, N.B. & Lee,Y.L. 2005. The role of fathers in risk for physical child abuse and neglect: Possible pathways and unanswered questions. Child Maltreatment 10(2): 136-149.
  • Dubowitz, H. & Guterman, N.B. 2005. "Preventing child neglect and physical abuse." In Child maltreatment-A clinical guide and reference, 3rd edition, ed. A. Giardino. Maryland Heights, MO: G.W. Medical Publishing.
  • Guterman, N.B. & Taylor, C. 2005. "The prevention of physical child abuse and neglect." In Child welfare for the twenty-first century: A handbook of practices, policies, and programs, eds. P. Hess & G. Mallon. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Hahm, H.C., Lahiff, M. & Guterman, N.B. 2004. Asian American adolescents' acculturation, binge drinking, and alcohol and tobacco using peers. Journal of Community Psychology 32(3): 295-308.
  • Guterman, N.B. 2003. Advancing prevention research on child abuse, youth violence, and domestic violence: Emerging strategies and issues. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19: 299-321.
  • Hahm, H.C., Lahiff, M. & Guterman, N.B. 2003. Acculturation and parental attachment in Asian American adolescents' alcohol use. Journal of Adolescent Health 33: 119-129.
  • Guterman, N.B. & Embry, R.A. 2003. "Prevention and treatment strategies targeting physical child abuse and neglect." In Intervention with children and adolescents: An interdisciplinary perspective, eds. P. Allen-Meares & M. Fraser. New York: Allen & Bacon.
  • Guterman, N.B., Cameron, M. & Hahm, H. 2003. Community violence exposure and associated behavior problems among children and adolescents in residential treatment. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma 6(2): 111-136.
  • Guterman, N.B. 2002. "The Role of Research in Defining a ‘Practiceable' Problem for Social Work: The Parallax of Community and Family Violence Exposure among Children and Youth." Social Work Education 21(3): 313-322.
  • Guterman, N.B., Hahm, H.C., & Cameron, M. 2002. "Adolescent Victimization and Subsequent Use of Mental Health Counseling Services." Journal of Adolescent Health 30: 336-345.
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