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Improving measurement of child abuse and neglect: A systematic review and analysis of national prevalence studies
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: Child maltreatment through physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic violence, causes substantial adverse health, educational and behavioural consequences through the lifespan. The generation of reliable data on the prevalence and characteristics of child maltreatment in nationwide populations is essential to plan and evaluate public health interventions to reduce maltreatment. Measurement of child maltreatment must overcome numerous methodological challenges. Little is known to date about the extent, nature and methodological quality of these national studies. This study aimed to systematically review the most comprehensive national studies of the prevalence of child maltreatment, and critically appraise their methodologies to help inform the design of future studies. METHODS: Guided by PRISMA and following a published protocol, we searched 22 databases from inception to 31 May 2019 to identify nationwide studies of the prevalence of either all five or at least four forms of child maltreatment. We conducted a formal quality assessment and critical analysis of study design. RESULTS: This review identified 30 national prevalence studies of all five or at least four forms of child maltreatment, in 22 countries. While sound approaches are available for different settings, methodologies varied widely in nature and robustness. Some instruments are more reliable and obtain more detailed and useful information about the characteristics of the maltreatment, including its nature, frequency, and the relationship between the child and the person who inflicted the maltreatment. Almost all studies had limitations, especially in the level of detail captured about maltreatment, and the adequacy of constructs of maltreatment types. CONCLUSIONS: Countries must invest in rigorous national studies of the prevalence of child maltreatment. Studies should use a sound instrument containing appropriate maltreatment constructs, and obtain nuanced information about its nature.
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“while self-report data responding to behaviourally-specific questions provide reliable prevalence estimates (Mathews et al., 2020)”
From Child sexual abuse by different classes and types of perpetrator: Prevalence and trends from an Australian national survey (2024) · cites this paper as Mathews et al., 2020
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“Consistent with the approach of the JVQ, and to capture more reliable data about CSA experiences than the use of abstract open-ended questions (Mathews et al., 2020), items were framed as behaviourally-specific questions eliciting a dichotomous yes/no response.”
From Child sexual abuse by different classes and types of perpetrator: Prevalence and trends from an Australian national survey (2024) · cites this paper as Mathews et al., 2020
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Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & for the PRISMA Group (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2535 · Cited by 83,823
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & The PRISMA Group (2009) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097 · Cited by 64,042
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA Statement.
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Femina, D. D., Yeager, C. A., & Lewis, D. O. (1990) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/0145-2134(90)90033-p · Cited by 8,820
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STRAUS, M. A., HAMBY, S. L., BONEY-McCOY, S., & SUGARMAN, D. B. (1996) · Journal of Family Issues · doi:10.1177/019251396017003001 · Cited by 6,923
Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire
Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., Stokes, J., Handelsman, L., Medrano, M., Desmond, D., et al. (2003) · Child Abuse & Neglect · doi:10.1016/s0145-2134(02)00541-0 · Cited by 6,419
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Nussbaum, M. C. (2011) · doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674061200 · Cited by 5,664
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Burden and consequences of child maltreatment in high-income countries
Gilbert, R., Widom, C. S., Browne, K., Fergusson, D., Webb, E., & Janson, S. (2009) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(08)61706-7 · Cited by 3,876
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The prevalence of child maltreatment in Australia: findings from a national survey
Mathews, B., Pacella, R., Scott, J. G., Finkelhor, D., Meinck, F., Higgins, D. J., Erskine, H. E., Thomas, H. J., Lawrence, D. M., Haslam, D. M., et al. (2023) · Medical Journal of Australia · doi:10.5694/mja2.51873 · Cited by 200
Childhood Trauma, the HPA Axis and Psychiatric Illnesses: A Targeted Literature Synthesis
Murphy, F., Nasa, A., Cullinane, D., Raajakesary, K., Gazzaz, A., Sooknarine, V., Haines, M., Roman, E., Kelly, L., O'Neill, A., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.748372 · Cited by 181
“However, a recent systematic review, recommends caution in interpreting national prevalence rates, detailing that emotional abuse in childhood is as common as 83% in Greece (12).”
BackgroundMehta, D., Kelly, A. B., Laurens, K. R., Haslam, D. M., Williams, K. E., Walsh, K., Baker, P., Carter, H. E., Khawaja, N. G., Zelenko, O., et al. (2021) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-021-01258-8 · Cited by 188
Scott, J. G., Malacova, E., Mathews, B., Haslam, D. M., Pacella, R., Higgins, D. J., Meinck, F., Dunne, M. P., David Finkelhor, B., Erskine, H. E., et al. (2023) · The Medical Journal of Australia · doi:10.5694/mja2.51870 · Cited by 106
The Impact of Different Types of Abuse on Depression
Radell, M. L., Hamza, E. A., Daghustani, W. H., Perveen, A., & Moustafa, A. A. (2021) · Depression Research and Treatment · doi:10.1155/2021/6654503 · Cited by 128
Metadata
- Authors
- Mathews, B., Pacella, R., Dunne, M. P., Simunovic, M., & Marston, C.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- University of Greenwich (GB)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Mathews, Ben
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2020-01-28
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e0227884
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6986759
- OpenAlex
- W3004206645
- Cited by
- 217
- References
- 113
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 13
- FWCI
- 2.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Greenwich Academic Literature Archive (University of Greenwich) (acceptedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Child Abuse and Related Trauma
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Child Welfare and Adoption
- Keywords
- child abuse, child neglect, prevalence estimation, methodological quality, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, domestic violence exposure, study design limitations
- MeSH terms
- Physical Abuse, Adolescent, Child, Child Abuse, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Prevalence
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