4 out of 10 children in the US exposed to abuse and violence last year

Violence against children remains a problem in the United States.

Although some types of violence against children appear to be on a decline, children remain the most victimized sector in the U.S. population, as found by a recent study. Through phone interviews, researchers determined the level of exposure children face on abuse and violence over last year, which they believe is usually overlooked.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "The full burden of this tends to be missed because many national crime indicators either do not include the experience of all children or don't look at the big picture and include all the kinds of violence to which children are exposed," wrote research-head David Finkelhor of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham in an email sent to Reuters Health.

Total research data was collected from about 4,000 children 17-years-old and younger, including the phone interviews with the contacted representative samples from 2013 and 2014. Interviews from kids under 10-years-old were answered by their adult caregivers, according to the report.

The National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence included questions about conventional crime, child maltreatment, peer and sibling abuse, sexual assault, indirect exposure to violence, witnessing violence to others and Internet violence. Interviewers asked who committed the violence, possessed the weapons and about the injuries suffered, if they confirm the exposure to the aforementioned types.

Research found that about 37 percent of the children were physically assaulted last year with 10 percent sustaining injuries. Around 2 percent of the female children were sexually abused or assaulted with more than 4 percent in ages 14 to 17. Fifteen percent of them experienced maltreatment from caregivers and those who witnessed violence between their parents accounted for nearing 6 percent.

Statistics are similar to different studies conducted in the country and elsewhere, according to Dr. Andreas Jud of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland in another email to Reuters, who is not part of the new research.

John Fluke, a child welfare scholar-in-residence at the University of Denver in Colorado, said that most abuse happens inside the family, with neglect as the most prevailing form, according to the social services research and his own.

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