Is The Economy The Cause Of Child abuse?

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I ponder over if the economy was a major factor in the increase to child abuse.   After some searching I found a columnist with the WMUR9 news in New Hampshire claims that the experts say that when the economy weakens, child abuse increases. They also interviewed the counselors at the Upper Room Family Resource Center  that believe that it is a major factor.  The counselors help families find the resources and support the need to deal with family issues.  The counselors said that the number of parents seeking their help has doubled.  Which I wonder what kind of resources are these counselors using to help these parents in the economical times when the states are cutting budgets?  Which is probably another main cause of parents stress level rising.  The first being parents being laid off from their jobs and having issues finding a new one.  I can understand that people are getting laid off and their stress level rises due to finances building up especially when the holidays are getting close.  Parents may feel that they are not good parents when they are not able to put a smile on their children's face on Christmas day.   The thing parents need to realize that material things don't make a child happy, their love does.  When times are rough they should just a few gifts from Santa and a board game from you spend the day playing games and creating memories that will last longer than some toy that won't last a year. It is important for children to have lifelong good memories.
Dr. Rachel Berger also agrees that child abuse is rising in hard economic times.  Dr. Berger is a child abuse specialist with the Children Hospital where she researches shaken baby syndrome.  Her research has concluded that the number of abusive head trauma to children has increased since the beginning of the recession.   On the contrary, parents deal with stress of losing their house in a fire or other situations that are not within the parent’s control.  So, would the increases of child abuse be more of an association with the down fall of the economy rather than a cause and effect?  In my opinion I think it would be just an association.  In the in the past decades the reporting system of child fatalities between agencies and states are not all link together.  Therefore, the previous numbers are not correct they much higher and still to this day agencies are working to make a better reporting system.