CHICAGO (AP) — A big new survey says many U.S. kids are victims of assaults, abuse or other mistreatment.
While brothers and sisters are among the most common perpetrators, the researchers say the consequences can be troubling and shouldn’t be minimized.
The results are from 2013-14 phone interviews with 4,000 randomly selected kids up to age 18 or their parents. Results were published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.
For all ages grouped together, 37 percent experienced any physical assault in the previous year and 9 percent resulted in injuries. Rates were higher in the oldest kids. About 22 percent of the attacks were by siblings and 16 percent were by peers. And 41 percent of kids surveyed had more than one direct experience of violence, crime or abuse. Ten percent had six or more.