1999-2000 Comprehensive Community Assessment

Issue Area Factual Data

 

Issue:

“Child Abuse and Neglect”

 

 

1.      Incidence and prevalence of child abuse:

 

·         Severe violence used with children – 10.7% of all children; (without using object – belt, etc.) only 1.9%. [1]

·         Sexual abuse: 20-25% of all U.S. adult females were sexually abused as children. [2]

·         Between 1986 and 1993 the US child abuse incidents doubled. [3]

·         However, locally while the abuse and neglect referrals continued to rise through 1996, there was a falling off in referrals in 1997 and 1998: [4]

 

Year	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Total Referrals	1,234	1,817	1,845	1,492	1,332

 

 

2.      Degree of intergenerational abuse:

 

·         70% of all incestuous fathers were sexually abused as children. [5]

·         However, while 30% of physically abused children grow up to be abusers; 70% do not. [6]

·         Over 75% of federal inmates (Canada) convicted of child abuse crimes were abused by their fathers as children; 50% abused by their mothers. [7]

 

3.      Degree of alcohol and drug abuse in child abuse cases  

 

·         Research is mixed on the strength of relationship between alcohol/drug abuse and child abuse/neglect; although recognized as “disinhibitor” making abuse easier to occur, causal relationship to abuse/neglect more complex. [8]

 

·         However, in 80% of father-daughter incest cases the father was intoxicated at time of the abuse. [9]

 

 

 

 

4.      Family and personal isolation of abusers: 

 

·         Most violent parents lived in community less than 2 years, belonged to few community groups, and had little contact with friends and relatives. [10]

 

5.      Degree of untreated abuse/long term consequences:

 

·         Of adult women with substance abuse problems, 75% were sexually abused as children; of teenage boys with substance abuse problems – 42% were sexually abused as children. [11]

 

6.      Description of abuse, and the perpetrators.

 

a)      In 88% of abuse cases, the perpetrator is a family member; [12] 75% are the parents and 10% other relatives of the victim. [13]

b)      In approximately 10% of all sexual abuse cases, the sexual abuse perpetrator is an older sibling. [14]

c)      In physical abuse and neglect cases, women are the likely perpetrators (62%)

d)      In sexual abuse, most offenders are male (75% of the cases), while most victims are female (75%). [15]

e)      The lower the income and social prestige of the parent, the more likely they are to abuse their children. [16]

f)       Single parents 77% greater risk of abuse. [17]