use received by child protective services (CPS) in the United States. Some 1.5 percent of the nation's children were confirmed victims of child abuse in 1996. Parents were abusers in 77 percent of all cases, other relatives in 11 percent. Sexual abuse was more likely to be committed by males, whereas females were responsible for the majority of neglect cases. More than 1,000 American children died from child abuse in 1966 (Baker, 1999).
Miller (1996) has commented that the reliability and validity of child abuse incidence and effect data is limited. To the extent that such data represent only a portion of the total incidence of child abuse, it cannot be considered to be complete. Secondly, many cases of suspected child abuse that are reported are not fully investigated due to funding and other resource constraints. Third, due to the potential mobility of the at-risk population, child protective service intervention is not always consistent. Thus, the secondary data are largely incomplete. The data provided by law enforcement agencies may be more reliable and valid in that it addressed reported crimes in which police intervention has occurred.
Few populations or groups are immune to child abuse. Youth under age 18, regardless of their racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, or family constellation, are seen by Baker (1999) as potentially at risk for victimization via one or more forms of child abuse. While child abuse is a problem that cuts across all types of socio-demographic boundaries, Baker (1999) stated that reported cases usually involve poor families with little education; young mothers, single-parent families, and parental alcohol or drug abuse are also common in reported cases. About 10 percent - or as much as 40 percent - of abusive parents were themselves abused as children; more than 90 percent of abusing parents have neither psychotic nor criminal personalities (Baker, 1999).
Baker (1999) and Lanning, Ballard ...