About the Abusers

All of the information for this post was found at http://www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/sheets/rs7/rs7.html, another government website.

        So, I have yet to post about who exactly abuses children. For some, the statistics may be shocking and for others, it might be nothing new. All of the evidence that supports these statistics was from a study conducted that gathered documents found in Australia. Although the documents were not from America, the statistics found can still give us a general idea of what can be found in a large population. Also keep in mind, however, that there is a lot of abuse out there that goes unreported, so it is difficult to get a fully accurate number of who exactly is abusing children. But this is what they found from the available evidence.

• With the exception of sexual abuse, children are most likely to be abused or neglected by parents or guardians. 
• Mothers/stepmothers physically abused 25.9% of the time and 55.6% of the fathers/stepfathers were physically abusive. The remaining 13.7% was physical abuse from family friends, other relatives, or strangers.
• Despite evidence found in Australia, a British study revealed that mothers are more likely to be abusive due to the fact that they typically have more time around the children. However, it also supports the idea that fathers are typically more severely abusive and that they cause more deaths than mothers.
• For neglect, there is lack of evidence to give specific numbers on who is the most abusive, but enough evidence to support the fact that mothers were more neglectful than fathers and that this, again, has to do with the fact that they are typically more responsible for the children. Parents and caregivers are more likely than any other adult who is responsible for children (i.e., teachers, relatives, babysitters, etc.) to be neglectful, just as in physical abuse. 
• Sexual abuse is typically committed by a person in a position of trust who is not a caregiver. Unlike physical abuse and neglect, males are the majority of sexual abusers. 
• Emotional abuse is typically verbal abuse or harassment towards a child that lowers the child's self esteem or social abilities. Parents/guardians are the majority of abusers in this area, and males are more likely to inflict emotional abuse.
• Parents/caregivers typically inflict fatal abuse on small children, and teens are killed by their peers or another adult. Males are three times more likely to abuse their child to the point of fatality and caregivers that are not biological are seventeen times more likely to abuse children to the point of abuse. 
• Children also abuse adolescents. Children from ages 10-16 are 8% of the sex offender population. Most sex offenders started in their childhood. Also, incest between siblings accounts for a large part of sexual abuse.