Chris Wildeman’s Study Finds Childhood Maltreatment in U.S. is Underestimated

(Updated June 5, 2014)

A study by Chris Wildeman, Associate Professor of Sociology and Faculty Fellow at ISPS finds that about 12% of American children experience a confirmed case of maltreatment in the form of neglect, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.

“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.”

The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Pediatrics) this week and co-authored with Natalia Emanuel, Dr. John M. Leventhal, Emily Putnam-Hornstein, Jane Waldfogel, and Hedwig Lee.

See Yale News and other media outlets that have covered the story: NPR, US News, and Reuters.