Peer-reviewed article

Protective vs. punitive informal social control: A multilevel mediation study of neighborhood effects on child sexual abuse in Nepal.

Kewen Wang, Xiaoyuan Han, Sirjana Thapa, Jacky Chi Kit Ng, Clifton R Emery · 28 Jul 2026

Abstract

BACKGROUND: While neighborhood collective efficacy is theorized to promote community intervention against child maltreatment, the mechanisms of informal social control (ISC) through protective versus punitive pathways remain poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine whether the association between collective-efficacy-based neighborhood ISC and contact child sexual abuse (CSA) is differentially mediated by protective versus punitive child-maltreatment-specific ISC (ISC_CM) in Nepal. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Data were drawn from a two-wave, nationally representative sample of 1089 mother-adolescent dyads across 100 Nepali wards. METHOD: The study employed a stratified four-stage national random probability proportional to size (PPS) cluster sampling design. A multilevel parallel mediation model was used to test the relationships between ward-aggregated neighborhood ISC expectations and protective versus punitive ward responses at Wave 1. These mediators, in turn, were used to model children's past-year contact sexual abuse at Wave 2, adjusting for individual and community covariates. RESULTS: The model revealed two distinct, opposing pathways. Neighborhood ISC expectations were positively associated with both protective and punitive ISC_CM. Punitive ISC_CM was significantly linked to increased contact CSA risk, whereas protective ISC_CM showed a non-significant negative trend. The indirect effect via punitive ISC_CM was significant, while the pathway via protective ISC_CM was not. The null total effect suggested these opposing indirect paths may have canceled each other out. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that the role of neighborhood ISC in CSA prevention is not uniform; rather, it depends critically on the type of ISC it fosters. While general neighborhood ISC (traditional collective efficacy measure) promotes both protective and punitive responses to child maltreatment, only the protective pathway holds potential for risk reduction, whereas the punitive pathway inadvertently appears to heighten CSA risk. These results lend support to cultivate protective, supportive community-based child protection interventions over punitive control.