Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Nov 2;11(2):141-150.
doi: 10.1007/s40653-016-0118-8. eCollection 2018 Jun.

Prevalence of Child Maltreatment in Israel: A National Epidemiological Study

Rachel Lev-Wiesel  1 , Zvi Eisikovits  2 , Maya First  1 , Ruth Gottfried  1   3   4 , David Mehlhausen  5
Affiliations

Prevalence of Child Maltreatment in Israel: A National Epidemiological Study

Rachel Lev-Wiesel et al. J Child Adolesc Trauma. .

Abstract

The current study is based on data collected from Jewish and Arab 6th, 8th and 10th grade students (age range 12-17) within the Israeli national school system (N = 12,035). Data collection for the study utilized two complementary instruments: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ). Study results revealed that the lifetime prevalence of child maltreatment in contemporary Israeli society is within the range of estimates from other countries. However, contrary to others, Israeli boys reported higher rates of abuse, including sexual abuse, compared to girls. Additionally, Arab compared to Jewish children and youth reported higher rates of all types of abuse. The need for widely accepted, uniform definitions of the various child maltreatment types, a standardized methodology of data collection, and regularly updated national and international data bases is discussed.

Keywords: Child abuse; Child maltreatment; Domestic violence; Emotional abuse; Israel; Neglect; Physical abuse; Sexual abuse.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestRLW declares that she has no conflict of interest. ZE declares that he has no conflict of interest. MF declares that she has no conflict of interest. RG declares that she has no conflict of interest. DM declares that he has no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Alaggia R. An ecological analysis of child sexual abuse disclosure: considerations for child and adolescent mental health. Journal of Canadian Academy Child Adolescence Psychiatry. 2010;19(1):32–39. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Shail, E., Hassan, A., Aldowaish, A., & Kattan, H. (2012). The Cultural Reinforcers of Child Abuse. In A. Muela (Ed.), Child Abuse and Neglect - A Multidimensional Approach (pp. 20–38).
    1. Ben-Arieh A, Haj-Yahia MM. The “Geography” of child maltreatment in israel: findings from a national data set of cases reported to the social services. Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal. 2006;30(9):991–1003. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.02.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bernstein DP, Fink L. Childhood trauma questionnaire: A retrospective self-report. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation; 1998.
    1. Bernstein DP, Stein JA, Newcomb MD, Walker E, Pogge D, Ahluvalia T, Zule W. Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2003;27(2):169–190. doi: 10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00541-0. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources