Child Abuse and Neglect

Child maltreatment is a major public health epidemic. Nearly 1 million children become documented victims of abuse or neglect in the United States annually, and countless more cases go unnoticed. Rates of maltreatment vary across studies and subtypes, with varying prevalence estimates for neglect (11.8%-13.7%), physical abuse (15.8%-28.4%), and sexual abuse (3.3%-32.3%), but there are no estimates for emotional abuse as a result of ongoing debate about its operational definition. More than half of all maltreated youth experience more than one type of abuse, with the highest rates of comorbidity in cases involving emotional abuse. One in 3 maltreated children is under the age of 4, with the highest victimization risk for children who are less than 1 year of age. The direct and indirect ...