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Perpetrators of Child Abuse
It is a myth that strangers most often abuse children. By far the vast majority of maltreated children are victimized by those who are familiar to the child and who have ready access to the child. Relatives of the child are most often the perpetrators of child abuse. In particular, parents make up the majority of child abuse perpetrators. Approximately 80 percent of perpetrators were parents. Other relatives accounted for 6 percent and unmarried partners of parents and "other" each accounted for 4 percent of perpetrators. The remaining perpetrator relationship types accounted for less than 1 percent (figure S-6) (USDHHS-ACYF, 2005).
Figure 1. Child Maltreatment Perpetrators by Relationship to Victim, 2003
Courtesy of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families,
US Department of Health and Human Services (2005)
Female perpetrators, mostly mothers, were typically younger than male perpetrators, who were mostly fathers. Women also comprised a larger percentage of all perpetrators than men, 58 percent compared to 42 percent (figure S-7). Nearly 76 percent of all perpetrators of sexual abuse were friends or neighbors and 30 percent were other relatives. In addition, less than 3 percent of all parental perpetrators were associated with sexual abuse (USDHHS-ACYF, 2005).
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