"1 in 4 youths abused, survey finds" 10/4/94 NYTimes

Children as Victims of Violence: A National Survey

1. The survey asked about 6 kinds of abuses: nonfamily assault, family 
assault, kidnapping, sexual abuse, violence to gentials, and corporal 
punishment. Abuse was defined as:
        ever being punched, kicked, hit or threatened with an object
        kidnapping where the child was taken somewhere
        touching sexual parts/in a sexual way,exposing oneself to the 
child, asking the child "to do something sexual", penetrating or engaging 
in any oral-genital contact
        violent contact to genitals
        slapping, hitting, or spanking (Appendix, P.419)

The survey uses a wide definition of abuse to a child.  The purpose of 
creating a broad deinition was to measure a comprehensive view of abuse 
to children as opposed to other studies that only look at specific abuses 
such as sexual assault (p.413, column 1)

2. The caretaker of the child was first asked permission to talk to the 
child.  88% of all adults asked gave permission and of that 82% of the 
children agreed to answer.  28% of the children of the children attempted 
were not included in the study because they or their adult caretakers 
refused to be a part of the study.
 (p.414, column 1)

3. The population of interest are children aged 10-16 years old.  The 
greoup surveyed had a higher rate of assault than children 12-15 years 
old as reported by the National Crime Survey and had a lower rate of 
assault than 11-17 year olds in the National Youth Survey. (p.415, column 2)

4. The rate is last year's completed non-family assaults. (p.415, Table 1)

5. The results of this study were compared to the National Crime Survey 
and the National Youth Survey.  The NCS is a third of 
the one in the study (5.2%), while the NYS was almost twice as much (31%) 
as the rate in the study.  The rates may differ because of the definition 
they give to assault.  The NYS may be higher because it includes assault 
from siblings and other nonparents family members which the Finkelhow and 
Dziuba-Leatherman non-family assault rate does not cover.  The news 
article quotes the NCS. In order to compare this survey with the 
NYS, the sum of the completed nonfamily assault rate and the completed 
family assault rate of this survey should be compared to the NYS 
rate. (p.415-416)

6. The low percentage of children who report to the police may be low 
because the assault may not be seen as something that needed to be 
reported, such as another child hitting one child on the playground.  In 
this situation, a child may tell an adult supervisor but not file a 
complaint with the police. (p.416, Table 3)

7. "The study attempted to survey a more comprehensive view of child 
victimization and abuse in order to alert people to its extensive and 
diverse forms"