Child Physical Abuse and Neglect

Abstract

Maltreatment of children has become endemic in our society. In a recent summary of statistics on child abuse and neglect in the United States, Curtis, Boyd, Liepold, and Petit (1995) reported the following physical consequences to the approximately 3 million children maltreated in 1993: 2,000 fatalities, 18,000 serious disabilities, and 141,700 serious injuries. In 1993, the incidence of reported maltreatment was 43 per thousand children, up from 28 per thousand in 1984. Among substantiated and indicated reports of maltreatment, 45% involved neglect, 22% physical abuse, 13% sexual abuse, 5% emotional maltreatment, 2% medical neglect, and 13% other. It is generally believed that these official reports are underrepresentations of the actual incidence of maltreatment, given that some types of abuse (e.g., psychological mistreatment) are difficult to identify and document. The human and financial costs of child maltreatment are unfathomable, although research has clearly documented that the consequences of child maltreatment are potentially devastating (see Briere, Berliner, Bulkley, Jenny, & Reid, 1996).