Heinous as the idea may be to most Americans, child abuse
remains fairly widespread in the United States. The most recent
report on child maltreatment from the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) reports that approximately 903,000 children
were victims of abuse and neglect during 2001. The latest Gallup
Youth Survey* produces a similarly disturbing figure regarding
adolescents: more than one in three 13- to 17-year-olds (36%) say
they are personally aware of someone their own age who has been
physically or sexually abused.
Among teen-agers, it can be particularly difficult to assess
abuse rates because teens may be exposed to physical or sexual
abuse not only by family members and other adults, but also from
their peers (e.g., intimate partner abuse). Definitions of
adolescent abuse, as well as methods for tracking its prevalence,
vary widely among social service, criminal justice, and academic
sectors. Another problem has to do with self-reporting -- teens may
fear reporting abuse for a variety of reasons, including fear of
retaliation by their abusers, or feelings of shame and
self-recrimination commonly connected to child abuse.
Due to the potential reporting problems described above, the
latest Gallup Youth Survey took a less direct approach in asking
teens about abuse. Respondents (aged 13 to 17) were asked about
their awareness of abuse among peers: Do you personally know of
anyone your age, such as a friend or classmate, who has been
physically or sexually abused? While the question has little
absolute value with regard to the prevalence of abuse among teens,
it may be useful to track increases and decreases over time, and to
look for differences by demographic group.
Demographic Differences
Results from the initial asking of this question reveal only a
few obvious differences. As might be expected, girls are almost
twice as likely as boys to say they are personally aware of a peer
who has been abused, 47% vs. 25%.
There are indications of slight regional differences and
differences by level of parents' education: 39% of teens in the
South and West say they are personally aware of abuse, compared to
31% of those in the Midwest and 29% of those in the Northeast. And
teens who say neither of their parents attended college are
somewhat more likely than those who say both parents attended
college to be personally aware of physical or sexual abuse of
someone their own age.
Health Behaviors
Perhaps more interesting is a possible connection between teens'
awareness of abuse and their likelihood to engage in high-risk
behaviors. Though the question doesn't necessarily tap teens' own
experiences, those who indicate awareness of abuse are more likely
to say they use alcohol, have tried marijuana, and smoked
cigarettes in the last week.
Given that links between physical and sexual abuse and
subsequent teen substance abuse -- as well as links between abuse
and involvement with the juvenile justice system -- have been well
documented, the relationship between these responses bears watching
in future surveys.
*The Gallup Youth Survey is conducted via an Internet
methodology provided by Knowledge Networks, using an online
research panel that is designed to be representative of the entire
U.S. population. The current questionnaire was completed by 1,200
respondents, aged 13 to 17, between Jan. 23-Feb. 10, 2003. For
results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence
that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3%. For a
complete description of the sampling and weighting procedures used
to conduct the survey, click here.
