Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 37, Issue 10, October 2013, Pages 801-813
Child Abuse & Neglect

The prevalence and impact of child maltreatment and other types of victimization in the UK: Findings from a population survey of caregivers, children and young people and young adults

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.02.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives

To measure the prevalence of maltreatment and other types of victimization among children, young people, and young adults in the UK; to explore the risks of other types of victimization among maltreated children and young people at different ages; using standardized scores from self-report measures, to assess the emotional wellbeing of maltreated children, young people, and young adults taking into account other types of childhood victimization, different perpetrators, non-victimization adversities and variables known to influence mental health.

Methods

A random UK representative sample of 2,160 parents and caregivers, 2,275 children and young people, and 1,761 young adults completed computer-assisted self-interviews. Interviews included assessment of a wide range of childhood victimization experiences and measures of impact on mental health.

Results

2.5% of children aged under 11 years and 6% of young people aged 11–17 years had 1 or more experiences of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or neglect by a parent or caregiver in the past year, and 8.9% of children under 11 years, 21.9% of young people aged 11–17 years, and 24.5% of young adults had experienced this at least once during childhood. High rates of sexual victimization were also found; 7.2% of females aged 11–17 and 18.6% of females aged 18–24 reported childhood experiences of sexual victimization by any adult or peer that involved physical contact (from sexual touching to rape). Victimization experiences accumulated with age and overlapped. Children who experienced maltreatment from a parent or caregiver were more likely than those not maltreated to be exposed to other forms of victimization, to experience non-victimization adversity, a high level of polyvictimization, and to have higher levels of trauma symptoms.

Conclusions

The past year maltreatment rates for children under age 18 were 7–17 times greater than official rates of substantiated child maltreatment in the UK. Professionals working with children and young people in all settings should be alert to the overlapping and age-related differences in experiences of childhood victimization to better identify child maltreatment and prevent the accumulative impact of different victimizations upon children's mental health.

Introduction

Worldwide child maltreatment is recognized as a significant public health concern but there is no consensus among researchers on the extent of the problem and whether nationally or globally rates of maltreatment are increasing or declining (Finkelhor and Jones, 2006, Finkelhor et al., 2010, Gilbert et al., 2012, Trocmé et al., 2008). There has been an increase in child protection activity across the UK in recent years with growing numbers of children having child protection plans or being placed in local authority and foster care. The number of children subject to child protection plans at year end in England increased by 62% from 26,400 in 2006 (Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF], 2009) to 42,900 in 2012 (Department of Education [DfE], 2012) and data from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland show similar upward trends (Radford et al., 2011). Up to now, estimates of the prevalence of child maltreatment in the UK have drawn mostly from one research study, based on 2,869 (retrospective) interviews with young adults under the age of 25, conducted in 1998–1999 (Cawson et al., 2000, May-Chahal and Cawson, 2005). No comprehensive data has been available in the UK on the rates of maltreatment and other types of victimization reported by children and young people themselves.

It is acknowledged that rates of maltreatment recorded by child protection services are lower than the prevalence in the general population. Many cases are not identified, reported, nor given a service response (Munro, 2011). The extent of the gap between the recorded/reported cases and levels of prevalence in the general child population is hard to assess because child maltreatment often occurs in the home or in private settings where both detection and disclosure are more difficult. Child maltreatment is hard to talk about, developmental factors will influence the extent to which abuse or neglect is recognized and named as such by the victim. Many research studies have asked adults rather than children themselves about childhood experiences although abuse can have an impact on memory and the ability to recall accurately (Maughan & Rutter, 1997). While research suggests that at least half to a majority of young adults do remember experiences of childhood abuse when asked, an individual may be less likely to recall if they were young at the time of the abuse or more likely to recall if the experience was unusual or consequential (Hardt & Rutter, 2004).

Self-report studies generally produce higher prevalence rates in victimization research (Everson et al., 2008), but estimates of the prevalence of child maltreatment and other types of victimization vary widely not only across different regions but also between different studies collecting data within the same nations (Stoltenborgh, van Ijzendoorn, Euser, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2011). For example, studies of child sexual abuse in the UK produce very different lifetime prevalence estimates showing between 13% (Oaksford & Frude, 2001) to 21% of females are affected (May-Chahal & Cawson, 2005). Variations in prevalence rates are thought to be partly due to methodological differences in definitions, data collection methods, measures of victimization, and participant sampling, which is sometimes not representative of the current child population (Pereda, Guilera, Forns, & Gómez-Benito, 2009). Epidemiological information is needed to define the problem conceptually, describe the scale of maltreatment and the characteristics of those most affected. A more standardized epidemiological approach which permits comparison and contrast of rates of prevalence across time and different regions would facilitate international efforts to plan, respond to and prevent child abuse.

The harm caused by child maltreatment to health and wellbeing can last into adult life, abuse being a factor in poorer adult physical or mental health (Fisher et al., 2010, Wegman and Stetler, 2009). There is evidence that victimization experiences vary developmentally, are cumulative, and inter-related (Edwards et al., 2003, Herrenkohl and Herrenkohl, 2009). However many studies have focused on a single “type” of victimization (such as child sexual abuse or physical violence by caregivers) and relatively few studies have considered child maltreatment in the context of other victimizations that children and young people experience at home, in school, in other settings, and in the communities where they live. The co-occurrence of child maltreatment by caregivers with other types of victimization, whether by adults or by peers, has been supported in the research literature and empirically tested, with exposure to specific forms of victimization shown to be good predictors of other types (Finkelhor, Ormrod, Turner, & Holt, 2009). Outcomes for children are most likely to be poorer where there have been other adverse experiences and multiple and/or polyvictimizations (Appleyard et al., 2005, Turner et al., 2006). Demonstrating the impact of these inter-related, developmentally varying, and cumulative aspects of victimization on the wellbeing of children and young people could help to encourage earlier identification of those who are vulnerable, as well as a more holistic approach to maltreatment prevention.

This paper aims to:

  • Establish lifetime and past year prevalence rates of child maltreatment and other types of childhood victimization in the UK population, drawing from interviews with a representative sample of caregivers, young people, and young adults.

  • Explore the risk of other types of victimization among maltreated children and young people of different ages.

  • Using standardized scores from self-report measures, assess the emotional wellbeing of maltreated children, young people, and young adults, taking into account other types of victimization, different types of perpetrators, non-victimization adversities, and other variables known to influence mental health.

Section snippets

Participants

A random probability sampling approach was used to select households from the UK Postcode Address File. Advance letters were sent to around 50,000 households in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Letters were followed up with visits to check eligibility (i.e. a person aged under 25 was resident in the house) and obtain consent. If there was more than 1 person in the appropriate age range within a household, a Kish grid was used to randomly select someone under the age of 25. The

Results

Table 1 presents the prevalence rates of past year and lifetime victimization by age group, child's gender, and perpetrator type.

Victimization by peers or siblings was the most prevalent experience. Maltreatment by parents or caregivers however affected a large minority of children and young people during childhood. Apart from sibling victimization, higher rates for all forms of childhood victimization were reported for older age groups, with young adults aged 18–24 (retrospectively) reporting

Discussion

The main objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and impact of lifetime and past year maltreatment and other victimizations among children in the UK. Our findings show there is a substantial gap between known, substantiated cases of child maltreatment, as measured by the number of children in the UK subject to a child protection plan (in 2009 46,679 children; DfE, 2010) which at the time of the study was 0.35% of the child population, and the 2.5% (caregiver reported for children

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    The research was funded by the NSPCC, the Children's Charity and British Home Stores. Helen L. Fisher was supported by an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK. The NSPCC was involved in study design but none of the funders were involved in the analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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