It will not be wrong to state that children are the most victimized segment of the population. It has been said so as over one-third of US children and teenagers have been physically assaulted, majorly by siblings and peers. In the same period, one in 20 children was physically abused by a parent or another caregiver.

Study’s lead researcher David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said, “The full burden of this tends to be missed because many national crime indicators either do not include the experience of all children or don't look at the big picture and include all the kinds of violence to which children are exposed”.

The researchers said abuse will impact children’s lives in the long term. Finkelhor affirmed that violence and abuse in childhood could cause serious health and social problems. They can be related to later drug abuse, suicide, criminal behavior, mental illness and chronic diseases.

For the research, scientists assessed the results of telephone interviews about the experiences of 4,000 children and teenagers. Children aged between 10 and 17 answered questions about their exposure to violence, crime and abuse.

For the children aged 9 or younger, caregivers answered the questions. More than 37% of the children were physically assaulted last year and 9% were injured from assault and 15% were mistreated by a parent or caregiver.

Maltreatment included physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect or interfering with a child’s custody arrangements.