**3. Incidence of the problem**

Children in a situation of vulnerability constitute a social problem that affects all societies of the world. Throughout history, violence against children has been practiced in many ways: physically and emotionally, through sexual and labour exploitation. Therefore, child maltreatment is not a new phenomenon; it has been around since the beginning of time. History documents that the problem of child abuse and neglect is present from the start of civilisation and that, despite this, abusive conducts have for a long time gone "unnoticed" for families and for communities [58-60].

From the social discovery of the abuse phenomenon, different governments and societies have aimed to carry out research to discover the real scope of the problem.

The most contrasted data on this matter comes from the United States and Great Britain. For instance, according to the governmental statistics published in the United States [12,61], it is estimated that 1.8 million U.S. children may be the victims of child maltreatment every year, of which around 800,000 are cases that are actually confirmed. This data was collected from the Child Protection Services, to which we should add the cases that are not detected by these sources and/or are not reported.

8 Child Abuse and Neglect – A Multidimensional Approach

kind of mental disorder [50,55].

**3. Incidence of the problem** 

for families and for communities [58-60].

people are involved in family violence [15].

respectively, under 18 years of age; and between 25% and 50% of the children inform that they have been physically abused. The strong belief that the family is a place where people can find affection and support makes it harder to believe that a high number of

 *Child maltreatment is a consequence of psychological traits and psychopathological problems of the parents.* Various research studies focusing on abusive parents, in comparison with non-abusive parents, have found a greater presence of symptoms like depression, anxiety, low levels of personal self-esteem [47-49], lack of skills to adequately handle situations of stress [50], antisocial behaviour [49], personality disorders [51], dissociative symptoms [52] schizophrenia [49] impulsive tendencies [53,40] and difficulties controlling reactions of tension [54]. However, there is a low frequency of psychiatric diagnoses among the perpetrators of child maltreatment. At present, the authors accept that in 10% to 15% of the cases of maltreatment the parents show some

 *Child abuse and neglect is limited to the lowest social classes*. It is a mistaken belief to think that child maltreatment is only a question of educational or economic deficiencies. The data shows that child abuse and neglect exists in all countries and, although it is not

 *Child abuse and neglect is understood as an extension and generalisation of the physical abuse.* At present, different forms of child maltreatment have been recognised (emotional maltreatment, child neglect, etc.) which go beyond physical abuse. An adequate understanding of the different forms of maltreatment is necessary in order to encourage

 *Child abuse and neglect is transmitted from parents to children and so on*. The notion of intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect upholds that all children who are maltreated will maltreat their children in the future or, on the contrary, all parents who maltreat their children were maltreated in their childhood. The current accepted rate of intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect among researchers is around 25% (+/- 5) of the cases. Most of the people who were maltreated as a child

Children in a situation of vulnerability constitute a social problem that affects all societies of the world. Throughout history, violence against children has been practiced in many ways: physically and emotionally, through sexual and labour exploitation. Therefore, child maltreatment is not a new phenomenon; it has been around since the beginning of time. History documents that the problem of child abuse and neglect is present from the start of civilisation and that, despite this, abusive conducts have for a long time gone "unnoticed"

From the social discovery of the abuse phenomenon, different governments and societies

distributed proportionally, it occurs in all social classes [56,41].

(around 70%) do not reproduce this problem with their children [57].

have aimed to carry out research to discover the real scope of the problem.

good detection and prevention of ill-treatment.

 In the United States, the rate of victimisation for every 1000 children is 12.4, whereby it is children under three who display the highest rates of victimisation; that is to say, 16 children are maltreated per 1000 [62]. In Great Britain, the rate of child abuse and neglect, in children under 18 years of age is 2.8 children per 1000, whereby the highest percentages are found in children under one (7.1 per 1000) [63].

Besides the negative consequences it has on the victim, child abuse and neglect also has important consequences for society. The price paid for child maltreatment is very high; it has a direct cost (e.g. hospitalisations, social and judicial action, victim support programmes, child protection measures, etc.) and an indirect cost (pain, decrease in the quality of life, a less healthy and positive society, etc.). For instance, it is estimated that in the United States, child maltreatment annually generates costs to the value of 56 billion dollars [12].
