Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Saluja, G.
• Marquez, V.
• Cheng, T. L.
• Trumble, A.
• Brenner, R. A.

Titel

Adolescents as victims of familial violence: a hospital based surveillance

Ist Teil von

• International journal of injury control and safety promotion, 2007-03, Vol.14 (1), p.19-23

Ort / Verlag

England: Taylor & Francis

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Quelle

Taylor & Francis

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Adolescent abuse is an important and understudied issue in society. The objective of this study was to examine the epidemiology of physical injuries due to maltreatment among adolescents aged 10 - 19 years. Subjects came from seven hospitals/trauma centres in Washington DC that were involved in the Washington DC Initiative to Reduce Infant Mortality and Prevention of Childhood Injuries Study. From 1996 - 1998, information was gathered about all injuries to adolescents aged 10 - 19 years that resulted in a visit to a participating emergency department. This paper focuses on the subset 178 adolescents aged 10 - 19 years who presented with physical injuries due to maltreatment. It was found that 55% of victims of abuse were female. Abuse victims were more likely to be female than those with unintentional injury. The most common injuries were contusions to the extremities (29%). Mothers were the most common perpetrators (48%). A total of 64% of victims were assaulted with an object/weapon and the most common object used was a belt. There are some similarities and some important differences between patterns of maltreatment in adolescents vs. younger children. Increased awareness of maltreatment among older children is a critical step in increasing and improving screening and prevention practices among health-care professionals.