Children Exposed to Abuse in Youth-Serving Organizations Results From National Sample Surveys

• NCJ Number: 249978
• Journal: JAMA Pediatrics Volume: 170 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2016
• Author(s): A. Shattuck; D. Finkelhor; H. Turner; S. Hamby
• Date Published: February 2016
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2006-JW-BX-0003; 2009-JW-BX-0018
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report provides clinicians, policymakers, and parents with estimates of children's exposure to abuse in youth-serving organizations.

Abstract

In the combined sample of 13,052 children and youths aged 0 to 17 years, the rate of abuse by persons in youth-serving organizations was 0.4 percent (95 percent CI, 0.2-0.7) for the past year and 0.8 percent (95 percent CI, 0.5-1.1) over the lifetime. Most of the maltreatment (63.2 percent) was verbal abuse and only 6.4 percent was any form of sexual violence or assault. Thus, abuse in youth-serving organizations was a relatively rare form of abuse, dwarfed by abuse by family members and other adults. The study obtained telephone survey data from the three National Surveys of Children's Exposure to Violence (2008, 2011, and 2014) to create a sample of 13,052 children and youths ages 0 to 17 years. The survey participants included youths ages 10 to 17 years and caregivers of children ages 0 to 9 years. (Publisher abstract modified)