Compared to research on offenders, there has been somewhat less research on victims of child abuse and neglect that focuses on factors that increase or reduce the risk of victimization. Most research on victims examines the consequences of victimization (e.g., depression, psychological distress, suicide attempts, symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, etc.) or the effectiveness of various intervention efforts.

The very youngest children are at the greatest risk of being abused, especially by lethal forms of violence (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006; Wulczyn, Barth, Yuan, Harden and Landsverk, 2005). However, older children are at the greatest risk of nonlethal physical abuse and the youngest children (one to three years of age) have the highest rate of being reported for child neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006).

Early research suggested that there were a number of factors that raise the risk of a child being abused. Low birth weight babies (Parke and Collmer, 1975), premature children (Newberger et al., 1977; Parke and Collmer, 1975) and handicapped, retarded or developmentally disabled children (Steinmetz, 1978) were all described as being at greater risk of being abused by their parents or caretakers. However, a review of studies that examines the child's role in abuse calls into question many of these findings (Starr, 1988). One major problem is that few investigators used matched comparison groups. Secondly, newer studies fail to find premature or handicapped children at higher risk for abuse (Starr et al., 1984).

References:

1)         Newberger, E., R. Reed, J. H. Daniel, J. Hyde, and M. Kotelchuck. "Pediatric social illness: Toward an etiologic classification." Pediatrics 60 (1977): 178-185.

2)         Parke, R. D., and C. W. Collmer. "Child abuse: An interdisciplinary analysis." In M. Hetherington, ed. Review of Child Development Research. Vol. 5. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 1-102.

3)         Starr, R. H., Jr. "Physical abuse of children." In V. B. Van Hasselt, R. L. Morrison, A. S. Bellack, and M. Hersen, eds. Handbook of Family Violence. New York: Plenum, 1988, pp. 119-155.

4)         Starr, R. H., Jr., K. N. Dietrich, J. Fischoff, B. Schumann, and M. Demorest. "The contribution of handicapping conditions to child abuse." Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 4 (1984): 55-69.

5)         Steinmetz, S. K, "Violence between family members." Marriage and Family Review 1 (1978): 1-16.

6)         U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. Child Maltreatment 2004: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2006.

7)         Wulczyn, F., R. P. Barth, Y. Y. Yuan, B. J. Harden, and J. Landsverk. Beyond Common Sense: Child Welfare, Child Well-being and the Evidence for Policy Reform. New Brunswick, N.J.: Aldine/Transaction, 2005.

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