Polyvictimization: Children's Exposure to Multiple Types of Violence, Crime, and Abuse

• NCJ Number: 235504
• Author(s): David Finkelhor; Heather Turner; Sherry Hamby; Richard Ormrod
• Date Published: October 2011
• Length: 12 pages
• Publication Series: OJJDP National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence Series
• Grant Number(s): 2005– JL– FX– 0048
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention presents findings from the 2008 National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence regarding children's exposure to multiple types of violence, crime, and abuse.

Abstract

Major findings from the survey include: in 2008, 38.7 percent of children reported more than one type of direct victimization in the past year; 10.9 percent of children reported 5 or more direct exposures to different types of violence, and 1.4 percent reported 10 or more direct victimizations; and children exposed to even 1 type of violence were at greater risk of experiencing other types of violence. This bulletin from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) summarizes key findings from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV) examining children's exposure to multiple types of violence, crime, and abuse. Data for NatSCEV were obtained from interviews with 4,549 youth aged 10 to 17 and the parents of children aged 9 and younger regarding the children's exposure to multiple types of violence over the past year and over the child's lifetime. The survey found that 54 percent of children who were victims of multiple types of violence were boys; 41 percent were aged 14 to 17; and the children were more likely to come from families whose socioeconomic status is in the middle of the spectrum. Other findings indicate that youth who suffer from multiple exposures to violence have greater levels of additional lifetime adversities and higher levels of stress later in life than children not exposed to multiple incidences of violence. This bulletin discusses in detail the lasting effects on youth and adolescents who are victims of multiple exposures to violence. Implications for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers are discussed. Table, figures, and references