Common stereotypes about child abuse

Common stereotypes about child abuse are overturned in the NSPCC’s largest ever study of child maltreatment.

Myth: the most common form of abuse suffered by children at home is sexual abuse.
Fact: children are seven times more likely to be beaten badly by their parents than sexually abused by them.

Myth: most sexual abuse occurs between fathers and their daughters.
Fact: this type of incestuous relationship is rare, occurring in less than four in a thousand children. The most likely relative to abuse within the family is a brother or stepbrother.

Myth: adults are responsible for most sexual violence against children and young people outside the family.
Fact: children are most likely to be forced into unwanted sexual activity by other young people, most usually from someone described as a ‘boyfriend’.(!!!) Less than three in a thousand of the young people reported sexual behaviour against their wishes with professionals working with children.

Myth: sexual attacks on children from strangers are common.
Fact: sexual assaults involving contact by strangers are very rare. Even with indecent exposure, only seven per cent of the young people reported ever having been ‘flashed at’, and just over a third of these said the person was a stranger.

Myth: most physical abuse is carried out by men, especially fathers.
Fact: violent acts towards children are more likely to be meted out by mothers than fathers (49% of the sample experienced this from mothers and 40% from fathers).