Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS–4)

3. INCIDENCE OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECTThis chapter provides Harm Standard and Endangerment Standard estimatesof child abuse and neglect, addressing the following questions:• What is the current national incidence of child abuse and neglect asdefined by the Harm Standard or the Endangerment Standard?• Have there been any statistically significant changes since the NIS–2 orsince the NIS–3 in the annual incidence of children who experienceabuse or neglect fitting the standard? 23• Among the children who experienced abuse or neglect according to thestandard, what was their most serious injury or harm from thatmaltreatment?• How does this distribution of children across levels of severity ofinjury/harm compare with the severity distributions found in the NIS–2and the NIS–3?In addition, the discussion compares the Endangerment Standard estimatesfor different maltreatment types and outcomes with the Harm Standard estimates,indicating the additional children included as abused or neglected under the more lenientEndangerment Standard guidelines. The final section summarizes the main findings anddiscusses their implications.Throughout this and the subsequent chapters, it is important to bear in mindthat the NIS definitions, under whatever standard, require all maltreatment to have beenperpetrated by a parent or caretaker (i.e., to reflect circumstances that are within thejurisdiction of child protective services agencies). That is, the NIS estimatessystematically exclude maltreatment by non-caretaker family members (e.g., siblings whowere not in a caretaking role), by non-caretaker neighbors or acquaintances, and bystrangers. Thus, the incidence totals and rates in this report do not reflect the children23 Reports on the findings from these previous studies were Sedlak (1991) and Sedlak and Broadhurst(1996).3–1