NCJ Number
149327
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1994) Pages: 170-183
Date Published
1994
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the research literature on predictors of severe and fatal physical child abuse, an important issue in the design of assessment instruments for use in child welfare intake.
Abstract
Of various factors associated with child abuse victims, perpetrators, and sources of child abuse reports, the only one consistently related to severity of injury is child age. The literature provides some support for the conclusion that boys, children of color, and victims of male perpetrators may be at increased risk of serious injury, although further study is required. Existing studies differ substantially with respect to methodologies, making it difficult to identify precisely why some findings are contradictory. Conceivably, differences among study samples related to victim racial or ethnic identity, age, and gender or perpetrator sex underlie variations in main effects among studies. A serious shortcoming of existing studies is their failure to define severity of injury in consistent and useful ways. Future research should move toward the use of more reliable and valid instruments for assessing severity of injury, perhaps the Abbreviated Injury Scale or a similar measure. Research efforts should use multivariate data analysis techniques to predict the severity of child abuse injury. 37 references