perm filename ABUSE.NS[1,JMC] blob
sn#806898 filedate 1985-11-10 generic text, type T, neo UTF8
a212 1025 10 Nov 85
AM-Child Abuse,0385
Research: Decade Of Awareness Causes Sharp Drop In Child Abuse
EDS: EMBARGOED by source until 12:01 a.m. EST Monday
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - A decade of heightened public awareness
of child abuse has led to a sharp drop in severe violence toward
children, says a study released Monday.
While one in 25 children between the ages of 3 and 17 was severely
abused in two-parent families in 1975, the rate this year was one
child in 33, according to researchers at the University of Rhode
Island and the University of New Hampshire.
The study, which said that at least 1 million children are abused
each year, said that figure represtned a drop of 705,000 incidents in
10 years.
The study by Dr. Richard J. Gelles, dean of URI's College of Arts
and Sciences, and Dr. Murray A. Straus, professor of sociology and
director of the Family Research Laboratory at UNH, was to be
presented Monday in Chicago at the Seventh National Conference on
Child Abuse and Neglect.
''National media campaigns, new child abuse and neglect laws,
24-hour reporting hot lines, and almost daily media attention have
transformed an issue that was ignored for centuries into a major
social problem,'' Gelles said.
He said the public outrage at child abuse might have made abusive
parents more reluctant to report beating their children.
''If all we have accomplished in the last 10 years is to raise
parents' consciousness about the inappropriateness of violence, then
we have begun the process of reducing violence toward children,''
Gelles said Friday at a media briefing on the study, a follow-up to a
survey he and Straus conducted in 1975.
The researchers attributed the decline in violence toward children
to significant changes in family organization during the last 10
years.
They said couples are marrying later, waiting longer to have
children and having fewer children. They said the number of unwanted
pregnancies has dropped and economic conditions have improved over
the past decade.
The researchers, citing Harris Surveys, said 90 percent of the
public considers child abuse a serious national problem, compared to
only 10 percent in 1976.
The study, funded by a grant from the National Institute of Mental
Health, was based on a telephone survey from a sample of 4,032 child
abuse cases, of which 1,428 were two-parent households.
AP-NY-11-10-85 1329EST
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