Is Violence Toward Children Increasing - A Comparison of 1975 and 1986 National Survey Rates

• NCJ Number: 106422
• Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 2 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1987) Pages: 212-222
• Author(s): R J Gelles; M A Straus
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: A revised version of a paper presented at the Seventh National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Chicago, Illinois.

Annotation

Nationally representative samples compared the rate of violence toward children from a 1975 study with the rates from a 1985 replication and found that the 1985 rates, though high, were substantially lower than the 1975 rates.

Abstract

The American Humane Association has conducted the National Study of Child Neglect and Abuse Reporting since 1976. This annual survey measures the number of families, alleged perpetrators, and children involved in official reports of child maltreatment. Both the samples of 1,146 families in 1975 and of 1,428 families in 1985 found extremely high incidence of severe violence against children. The rate of severe violence, however, was 47-percent lower in 1985. Possible reasons for the later lower rates include increased reluctance to report, difference in study methods, reductions due to 10 years of prevention and treatment efforts, and changes in American society and family patterns that would have produced lower rates of violence toward children even without ameliorative programs. The 47-percent decline in the rate of very severe violence is greater than expected and indicates an increasing public awareness that violence toward children is inappropriate. 1 table, 5 notes, and 19 references. (Author abstract modified)