Skip to main content

Self-Reports Of Child Maltreatment In The U.S.: A Key Social Indicator

  • Chapter
Indicators of Children’s Well-Being

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 36))

  • 12 Accesses

Abstract

A key social indicator of the well being of a society is the health and welfare of their children. Child maltreatment is a major problem in the U.S. and the world and the reporting of maltreatment has been the subject of much research and debate. However, little is known about self-reports of child maltreatment. Children face many obstacles that may prevent them from reporting their own maltreatment to authorities. Despite these obstacles, a small percentage of all child maltreatment reports made to child protective services (CPS) in the US are made by the victim. The purpose of this paper is to describe an analysis of reports made to CPS by the child-victim of maltreatment over a three-year period. Results indicated significant differences related to child race, gender and substantiation rate among self-reports and reports made by others.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aalsma, M. C., G. D. Zimet, D. Fortenberry, M. Blythe and D. P. Orr: 2002, _Reports of childhood sexual abuse by adolescents and young adults: Stability over time_, The Journal of Sex Research 39(4), pp. 259–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton, V.: 2002, _Worker judgements of seriousness about and reporting of suspected child maltreatment_, Child Abuse & Neglect 23(6), pp. 539–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bala, N., J. Lee and E. McNamara: 2001, ‘Children as witnesses: Understanding their capacities, needs, and experiences’, Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless 10(1), pp. 41–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Arieh, A.: 2005, ‘Where are the children? Children’s role in measuring and monitoring their well-being’, Social Indicators Research 74(3), pp. 573–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ceci, S. J. and M. Bruck: 1995, Jeopardy in the Courtroom : A Scientific Analysis of Children’s Testimony (American Psychological Association, Washington, DC).

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D. and J. Dziuba-Leatherman: 1994, ‘Children as victims of violence: A national survey‘, Pediatrics 94(4), pp. 413–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D. and R. Ormrod: 2000, ‘Reporting crimes against juveniles’, (Special Report NCJ- 178887, Juvenile Justice Bulletin (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC), pp. 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, M. S. and R. B. Ruback: 1992, ‘Self-reports: Surveying crime victims’, in M. S. Greenberg and R. B. Rubeck (eds.), After the Crime: Victim Decision Making (Plenum, New York), pp. 151–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haapasalo, J. and J. Moilanen: 2004, ‘Official and self-reported childhood abuse and adult crime of young offenders’, Criminal Justice and Behavior 31(2), pp. 127–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, E. D., D. K. Runyan, H. Dubowitz, C. Brandford, J. Kotch, A. Litrownik and W. M. Hunter: 2000, ‘Methodological and ethical challenges associated with child self-report of maltreatment’, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 15(7), pp. 760–776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauzier, M.: 1989, ‘Disclosure of child sexual abuse: For better or for worse’, Psychiatric Clinics of North America 12(2), pp. 455–469.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuck, A. M.: 2005, ‘Explaining black-white disparity in Maltreatment: Poverty, femaleheaded families, and urbanization’, Journal of Marriage and Family 67, pp. 543–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kesner, J.E. (2009). Self-Reports Of Child Maltreatment In The U.S.: A Key Social Indicator. In: Ben-Arieh, A., Frones, I. (eds) Indicators of Children’s Well-Being. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 36. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9304-3_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics