NCJ Number
241787
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 37 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2013 Pages: 22-32
Date Published
January 2013
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study explored the relationship between a single measure of internal resilience and positive outcomes in the context of risk, and examined the relationship between resilience and specific behavioral outcomes given a history of child maltreatment.
Abstract
Findings from this study on the association between child maltreatment and individual, family, and contextual factors include the following: child physical abuse was more prevalent among males than females, 33.7 percent and 28.2 percent respectively, while severe physical abuse occurred at relatively the same rate for males (21.5 percent) and females (18.3 percent); more females (22.1 percent) than males (8.3 percent) reported the presence of child sexual abuse; contextual factors of living in an urban area, living in poverty, and young maternal age at the time of the first child's birth were predictive of the presence of child physical and sexual abuse; and the presence of childhood psychiatric disorder was associated with child physical abuse, while parental adversity was associated with child severe physical abuse and child sexual abuse. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether contextual, family, and individual factors could predict the presence of child physical and sexual abuse. Data for the study were obtained from the Ontario Child Health Study, a longitudinal, providence-wide health survey of children aged 4 through 16 years. Data were collected in three waves: 1983, 1987, and 2000-2001. The findings in the study suggest that contextual, family, and individual factors play a significant role in the presence of child physical and sexual abuse, and that these factors should be considered in the development of approaches to detect and prevent child maltreatment. Study limitations are discussed. Figure, tables, and references