In this study, researchers examined rates of assault, sexual victimization, peer-sibling victimization, property crime, maltreatment, and poly-victimization among youth in the United States with and without disabilities.
This study of victimization and abuse among children with disabilities finds that children in all disability categories, except for physical disability, were at higher risk for poly-victimization and demonstrates the importance of controlling for demographic characteristics, especially age of the child in estimating the prevalence of victimization among children with disabilities and establishes the importance of type-specific analyses by victimization type, disability type, and age of the child. This study investigated rates of assault, sexual victimization, peer-sibling victimization, property crime, maltreatment, and poly-victimization among youth in the United States with and without disabilities. The study examined these rates for three age groups (children ages 0–4 years, ages 5–11 years, and ages 12–17 years) using data from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), waves I (2008), II (2011), and III (2014). These are cross-sectional nationally representative samples of children and youth ages one month to 17 years (N = 12,634). Victimization exposure overall is higher among older children (except for assault among very young children with developmental or learning disabilities), though the disparity between children with and without disabilities generally narrows as children get older. Age of the child impacted the relationships between disability and victimization. Very young children with physical disabilities were at heightened risk for most types of victimization while children with internalizing disabilities were at heightened risk for assault, property crime, and maltreatment in middle childhood and adolescence. Children with externalizing disabilities were at heightened risk for most types of victimization across all ages while developmental disabilities appeared to be risk factor for very young children and a potentially protective factor at later ages though these varied by type of victimization. Victimization risk varied by victimization and disability types. (Published Abstract Provided)