More than 60 percent of children have been exposed to violence in the past year and more than 1 in 10 reported five or more exposures, according to “National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence,” which was released today by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

This exposure occurs across all age ranges of childhood and for both genders. In general, however, the types of exposure that were most prevalent among younger children were less serious, such as assaults without a weapon or without injury, assaults by a juvenile sibling, or bullying and teasing, all of which were most common among 6- to 9-year-olds and declined thereafter.

Older adolescents ages 14 to 17 were the most likely to experience more serious forms of violence, including assaults with injury, gang assaults, sexual victimizations, and physical and emotional abuse, and to witness violence in the community.

Some serious forms of victimization, including kidnapping and assaults with a weapon, were most common among 10- to 13-year-olds. This age group was also the most likely to witness violence within the home, including domestic violence involving their parents and assaults by other family members.

Physical Assault Statistics:

• Nearly one-half (46.3 percent) of all the children surveyed were physically assaulted within the previous year, and more than one-half (56.7 percent) had been assaulted during their lifetime.
• Assaults by siblings especially show a marked developmental trend, peaking during the middle childhood years (ages 6 to 9) and then declining.
• Incidence for the most severe assaults rises steadily with age. Among 14- to 17-year-olds, nearly one in five (18.8 percent) had been injured in the past year in a physical assault.
• New forms of violence, such as dating violence, also emerge during adolescence, reaching a 5.6-percent past-year incidence rate and an 8.8-percent lifetime rate for the oldest adolescents.
• The lifetime incidence of assault victimization generally rose steadily as children grew older, with more than 7 in 10 14- to 17-year-olds (71.1 percent) reporting that they had been assaulted during their lifetimes.
• In general, boys are somewhat more likely than girls to be victims of assault. The past-year incidence of assault is 50.2 percent for boys and 42.1 percent for girls, and the lifetime incidence of assault is 60.3 percent for boys and 52.9 percent for girls.

Bullying Statistics:

• Overall, 13.2 percent of those surveyed reported having been physically bullied within the past year, and more than one in five (21.6 percent) reported having been physically bullied during their lifetimes.
• The risk of bullying peaks during middle childhood in a pattern similar to that for sibling assault. The highest incidence occurs among 6- to 9-year-olds, who had rates of 21.5 percent past-year incidence and 28.0 percent lifetime incidence.
• About 1 in 5 children (19.7 percent) reported having been teased or emotionally bullied in the previous year and nearly 3 in 10 reported having been teased or emotionally bullied in their lifetimes.
• Teasing or emotional bullying followed a similar pattern to physical bullying among age groups, rising to reach a peak among 6- to 9-year-olds, nearly one-third of whom (30.4 percent) reported having been teased in the past year and then falling steadily thereafter.
• Unlike other forms of bullying, the peak risk period for Internet harassment was ages 14 to 17. In this group, 5.6 percent reported Internet harassment within the past year and 7.9 percent during their lifetimes.
• Boys were more likely than girls to be physically bullied or threatened, but girls were more likely to be victims of Internet harassment. For past-year rates, there were no significant gender differences in emotional bullying; however, for lifetime rates, girls reported more cumulative exposure to emotional bullying than boys.

Sexual Victimization Statistics:

• Overall, 6.1 percent of all children surveyed had been sexually victimized in the past year and nearly 1 in 10 (9.8 percent) over their lifetimes.
• Sexual victimizations included attempted and completed rape (1.1 percent past year, 2.4 percent life¬time); sexual assault by a known adult (0.3 percent past year, 1.2 percent lifetime), an adult stranger (0.3 percent past year, 0.5 percent lifetime), or a peer (1.3 percent past year, 2.7 percent lifetime); flashing or sexual exposure by an adult (0.4 percent past year, 0.6 percent lifetime) or peer (2.2 percent past year, 3.7 percent lifetime); sexual harassment (2.6 percent past year, 4.2 percent lifetime); and statutory sexual offenses (0.1 percent past year, 0.4 percent lifetime).
• Adolescents ages 14 to 17 were by far the most likely to be sexually victimized; nearly one in six (16.3 percent) was sexually victimized in the past year, and more than one in four (27.3 percent) had been sexually victimized during their lifetimes. The most common forms of sexual victimization were flashing or exposure by a peer, sexual harassment, and sexual assault.
• Girls were more likely than boys to be sexually victimized: 7.4 percent of girls reported a sexual victimization within the past year, and nearly one in eight (12.2 percent) reported being sexually victimized during their lifetimes. Girls ages 14 to 17 had the highest rates of sexual victimization: 7.9 percent were victims of sexual assault in the past year and 18.7 percent during their lifetimes.

To read the full report, click here.

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