Ethnic Differences in Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse

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Abstract
A total of 4132 cases of child abuse that were reported to the Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department were analyzed to determine whether there were differences related to the ethnic group status of the victim or suspect. Results demonstrated that there were a number of significant differences attributed to ethnic group status. Comparing the ethnic group distribution of reported cases with that of the population in the county showed that Anglos and Hispanics were underreported with respect to their representation in the population whereas blacks were overrepresented. Among suspects, males (especially fathers) were the more frequent suspects in Anglo and Hispanic families, although females (and mothers) were the suspects most often in black families. The proportion of physical abuse to sexual abuse was higher for black families than for Hispanic and Anglo families, which had similar proportions of physical to sexual abuse. It was concluded that cultural differences need more systematic research attention in studies of child abuse.

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