Child maltreatment in the United States: prevalence, risk factors, and adolescent health consequences.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of child maltreatment in the United States and examine its relationship to sociodemographic factors and major adolescent health risks.


METHODS
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health is a prospective cohort study following a national sample of adolescents into adulthood. The wave III interview, completed by 15 197 young adults in 2001-2002 (77.4% response rate), included retrospective measures of child maltreatment. We used these measures to estimate the prevalence of self-reported supervision neglect, physical neglect, physical assault, and contact sexual abuse during childhood. Next, we investigated the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and maltreatment. Finally, we examined the association between child maltreatment and adolescent self-rated health; overweight status; depression; cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and inhalant use; and violent behavior.


RESULTS
Having been left home alone as a child, indicating possible supervision neglect, was most prevalent (reported by 41.5% of respondents), followed by physical assault (28.4%), physical neglect (11.8%), and contact sexual abuse (4.5%). Each sociodemographic characteristic was associated with > or = 1 type of maltreatment, and race/ethnicity was associated with all 4. Each type of maltreatment was associated with no fewer than 8 of the 10 adolescent health risks examined.


CONCLUSIONS
Self-reported childhood maltreatment was common. The likelihood of maltreatment varied across many sociodemographic characteristics. Each type of maltreatment was associated with multiple adolescent health risks.
Hussey
Jon M
JM
Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7445, USA. jon_hussey@unc.edu
Chang
Jen Jen
JJ
Kotch
Jonathan B
JB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence