Child Abuse and Domestic Violence

Over 2 million reports were made to CPS in 1995 covering almost 3 million children. Of those, over 1 million reports of abuse were substantiated. Reports of CPS agencies indicate about 15 of every 1,000 children are abused, but anonymous studies show up to 42 of 1,000.

NIS showed that 78% of children were mistreated by birth parents, ranging from 62% of physical abuse to 91% of neglect. Over half of sexually abuse children, however, are abused by someone other than a parent or parent-figure. Of those abused by birth parents, more were abuse by mothers (60%) than fathers (48%); however, when abused by someone other than a birth parent, father figure was more likely to abuse (90%) compared to mother (19%).

This 1995 data shows a serious increase in reported incidents of abuse. Risk of abuse increased 1.5 to 2 times, depending upon the type of abuse and severity of the definition. Here's some numbers:

type of abuse	1986 number	1995 number	%increase
physical neglect	167,800	338,900	102%
sexual	119,200	217,700	83%
emotional neglect	49,200	212,800	333%
physical abuse	269,700	381,700	42%

Types of Abuse
Of those substantiated reports,
     52% were of neglect,
     25% physical abuse,
     13% sexual abuse,
     5% emotional abuse,
     3% medical neglect,
     and 14% were "other" forms of maltreatment.

Obviously, these numbers indicate that some children suffered more than one type of abuse.

There are 5 basic types of emotional abuse -

1) spurning -verbal battering combining rejection and degradation
2) terrorizing -threatening to hurt, kill, or abandon the child or exposing the child or the child's loved ones to violence or leaving the child alone
3) isolating -active isolation of the child by an adult either in a closed space or room, or isolation from peers or other adults
4) exploiting/corrupting -modeling antisocial acts, encouraging deviant behavior, or teaching criminal behavior
5) denying emotional responsiveness -ignoring child's attempts for affection or reacting to the child in a cold mechanistic manner

Of course there is also sexual and physical abuse, as well as physical or medical neglect, but these are more easily defined.

In 1995, 996 children were shown to have died as a direct result of abuse; that's about three children a day.

Ages of Abuse
Roughly a quarter of victims fall in the 0 to 3, 4 to 7, 5 to 12, and 13 to 18. Sex and race do not come out as significant differences.

Identification of Victims of Child Abuse
History
1. look for a significant discrepancy between the stated cause of injury and the actual severity of the injury
2. a prolonged time interval between the stated time of the injury and the request for help
3. a history or repetitive injury, especially during a short period of time

Behavior Changes
such as
1. differences in stories upon repeated questioning
2. failure of the parents to voluntarily provide information at the time of the injury, to demonstrate concern over the injury, and to comply with medical treatment
3. lack of physical or emotional support to the child, lack of physical contact or response to a crying child

Individual Risk Factors
1. absence of bio father/presence of step-father (Finkelhor, 1979; Gruber & James, 1983; Parker & Parker, 1986)
2. ever lived without mother or not close to mother (Finkelhor, 1979; Gale et al, 1988; Paveza, 1987, Erikson, 1988)
3. mother never finished high-school (Finkelhor, 1979) or is poor with income less than $15,000 were 22 times more likely to be maltreated, 18 times more likely to be sexually abused, 56 times more likely to experience educational neglect (NIS, 1995)
4. one or more children in foster care (Gale et al, 1988; Rutter & Quinton, 1977)
5. physical affection by father (Finkelhor, 1979)
6. low income (Finkelhor, 1979; Paveza, 1987; Graham, 1979) (Although Egeland et al, 1988 found that 30% of low SES abused mothers weren't living in abusive homes)
7.. 2 or fewer friends in childhood (Finkelhor, 1979)
8. marital dissatisfaction (Paveza, 1987; Gruber & James, 1983; Rutter & Quinton, 1977)
9. spousal violence (Paveza, 1987)
10. femaleness (Gale et al, 1988)
11. history of sexual abuse as a child in parent's history (Parker & Parker, 1986), although Herrenkohl et al (1983) found that overall 53% of abused parents weren't abusive parents

The National Institute of Statistics adds
12. children of single parents had a 77% chance of being physically abused, 87% chance of being neglected,

Family Variables
1. role imbalance/boundary violations (Gelinas, 1988)
2. frequent and unresolved losses (Alexander, 1985)
3. poor conflict resolution/accumulated resentment
4. poor communication skills
5. isolation; internal and external
6. enmeshed family (Rosenfeld, 1977)
mom's from an abusive family
poor mom/daughter relationship (Giaretto, 1976)
father introverted (DeVine, 1980), ineffectual and shy
breakdown of marital relationship (Finkelhor, 1979; Giaretto, 1976)
7. multi-problem family (Gotlieb, 1980; Rosenfeld, 1977)
father is rigid and demanding
mother is immature and dependent (Summit & Kryso, 1978; Sgroi, 1983)