Addressing common forms of child maltreatment: evidence-informed interventions and gaps in current knowledge (original) (raw)

Updated trends in Child Maltreatment, 2012

The published NCANDS report shows overall substantiated child maltreatment steady at 9.2 per 1000 children, or about 686,000 children. This rate is low by historical standards and 4.2% below the level of 2008.

The prevalence of confirmed maltreatment among US children, 2004 to 2011

JAMA pediatrics, 2014

Child maltreatment is a risk factor for poor health throughout the life course. Existing estimates of the proportion of the US population maltreated during childhood are based on retrospective self-reports. Records of officially confirmed maltreatment have been used to produce annual rather than cumulative counts of maltreated individuals. To estimate the proportion of US children with a report of maltreatment (abuse or neglect) that was indicated or substantiated by Child Protective Services (referred to as confirmed maltreatment) by 18 years of age. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File includes information on all US children with a confirmed report of maltreatment, totaling 5,689,900 children (2004-2011). We developed synthetic cohort life tables to estimate the cumulative prevalence of confirmed childhood maltreatment by 18 years of age. The cumulative prevalence of confirmed child maltreatment by race/ethnicity, sex, and year. At 2011 rates, 12.5%...

On the incidence and prevalence of child maltreatment: a research agenda

Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 2016

Research on child maltreatment epidemiology has primarily been focused on population surveys with adult respondents. Far less attention has been paid to analyzing reported incidents of alleged child maltreatment and corresponding agency responses. This type of research is however indispensable to know how well a child protection system works and if the most vulnerable are identified and served. Notable findings of child maltreatment epidemiological research are summarized and directions for future studies discussed.

Child maltreatment 2002: recognition, reporting and risk

Pediatrics international : official journal of the Japan Pediatric Society, 2002

Child abuse is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA and in all other countries which have studied its incidence. It is the second leading cause of death of children in the USA. To decrease the incidence of child abuse and improve the welfare of children there must be international efforts to recognize, and report child abuse and to decrease those risk factors, which place children in jeopardy. In the USA, reports of child maltreatment have decreased each year since 1994 after nearly two decades of increase. The increase was associated with the passage of laws that mandated reporting child maltreatment and increased recognition of maltreatment. Several theories have been proposed to explain the decrease. These include: improved economy with decreased caretaker stress and more vulnerable children in day-care, imprisonment of offenders, treatment of victims to prevent reactive abuse, decreased use of corporal punishment, earlier recognition and reporting, prevention prog...

Child maltreatment as a global phenomenon: From trauma to prevention

International Journal of Psychology, 2013

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Measuring and monitoring national prevalence of child maltreatment: a practical handbook

This handbook has been developed to support the creation of a surveillance system to measure and monitor child maltreatment prevalence across European countries. Implementation of a surveillance system will be an essential factor in realizing Investing in children, the European child maltreatment prevention action plan 2015–2020. It describes the processes involved in setting up child maltreatment surveillance systems and presents recommendations on issues such as selection of data collection method, sampling of respondents, choice of instrument to measure abuse and ethical considerations. The handbook suggests community-based surveys on prevalence as the most appropriate method in setting up a child maltreatment surveillance system and proposes the use of one of three established child maltreatment questionnaires, based on the results of a rapid systematic review of child abuse measures. The Short Child Maltreatment Questionnaire is introduced for countries needing a brief measure. Ideally, community-based surveys should be conducted with nationally representative samples of approximately 1500 students in each age group and administered via schools. The use of self-report methods – paper-based or tablet/mobile-phone self-administered questionnaires – is advised. Questions should capture previous-year and lifetime prevalence of child maltreatment. Monitoring prevalence rates over time requires surveys to be conducted at repeated time points. It is proposed that surveys be administered every four to seven years. Methods of data collection that do not involve children are presented for countries unable to conduct surveys with children. Finally, ethical considerations in conducting surveys on child maltreatment are discussed.