title: The prevalence of confirmed maltreatment among US children, 2004 to 2011.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Child maltreatment is a risk factor for poor health throughout the life course. Existing estimates of the proportion of the US population maltreated during childhood are based on retrospective self-reports. Records of officially confirmed maltreatment have been used to produce annual rather than cumulative counts of maltreated individuals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the proportion of US children with a report of maltreatment (abuse or neglect) that was indicated or substantiated by Child Protective Services (referred to as confirmed maltreatment) by 18 years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File includes information on all US children with a confirmed report of maltreatment, totaling 5,689,900 children (2004-2011). We developed synthetic cohort life tables to estimate the cumulative prevalence of confirmed childhood maltreatment by 18 years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cumulative prevalence of confirmed child maltreatment by race/ethnicity, sex, and year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At 2011 rates, 12.5% (95% CI, 12.5%-12.6%) of US children will experience a confirmed case of maltreatment by 18 years of age. Girls have a higher cumulative prevalence (13.0% [95% CI, 12.9%-13.0%]) than boys (12.0% [12.0%-12.1%]). Black (20.9% [95% CI, 20.8%-21.1%]), Native American (14.5% [14.2%-14.9%]), and Hispanic (13.0% [12.9%-13.1%]) children have higher prevalences than white (10.7% [10.6%-10.8%]) or Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8% [3.7%-3.8%]) children. The risk for maltreatment is highest in the first few years of life; 2.1% (95% CI, 2.1%-2.1%) of children have confirmed maltreatment by 1 year of age, and 5.8% (5.8%-5.9%), by 5 years of age. Estimates from 2011 were consistent with those from 2004 through 2010.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Annual rates of confirmed child maltreatment dramatically understate the cumulative number of children confirmed to be maltreated during childhood. Our findings indicate that maltreatment will be confirmed for 1 in 8 US children by 18 years of age, far greater than the 1 in 100 children whose maltreatment is confirmed annually. For black children, the cumulative prevalence is 1 in 5; for Native American children, 1 in 7.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wildeman
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Emanuel
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Leventhal
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles5Center for Social Services Research, University of California, Berkeley.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Putnam-Hornstein
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waldfogel
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors.forename: Hedwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology