Fred Wulczyn explores how data on the incidence and distribution of child maltreatment shed light on planning and implementing maltreatment prevention programs. He begins by describing and differentiating among the three primary sources of national data on maltreatment. Wulczyn then points out several important patterns in the data. The first…

Examines sources of national data on child abuse, the number of cases reported, and recent trends. The author addresses the issues of substantiation rates and the various categories of abuse, then provides brief examinations of the characteristics of the victims of abuse and of child fatalities related to maltreatment. (GLR)

Reviews current knowledge of the most frequently asked questions about child sexual abuse, in areas such as its prevalence and trends, and what populations are at risk. Data presented from 19 adult retrospective surveys show that the incidence of reported child sexual abuse is rising, that less than one-third of the cases were committed by…