Study on Child Abuse in Children and Adolescents in the Province of Buenos Aires:

Abstract

The principal aim of this study was to provide a current description of the child and teenager maltreatment phenomenon in the Buenos Aires Province. The sample was composed by 5341 cases of children and teenagers from 0 to 20 years old, whose were treated in 2010 for having been victims of maltreatment. Physical maltreatment was the most frequent one. The girls presented major proportion of sexual abuse, whereas boys registered major proportions of negligence, physical maltreatment and desertion situation. An increase of the sexual abuse frequency in teenagers from 12 years was observed. As a whole, the information demonstrates that sex and age of victims are differentially associated with different types of maltreatment, and these are pertinent variables to have into account by future investigations, and prevention and protection organisms.

Keywords

• Child Maltreatment
• Sex
• Age
• Epidemiology.