Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3)

Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3)
The most extensive survey of the incidence of child sexual abuse is the Third
National Incidence Study (NIS-3) (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996). Data for this study
were collected during a three-month period in 1993. In a nationally representative
sample of 42 counties, child protective services agencies and selected community
professionals were surveyed. Community professionals included the professional staff
at schools, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, social service agencies, and public
health departments.
Criteria for including a case of child abuse or neglect were as follows. The
child had to be (a) a resident of the county surveyed, (b) under the age of 18 at the
time of the incident, and (c) a noninstitutionalized dependent of parent(s) or parent
substitute(s) at the time of the maltreatment. The maltreatment had to (a) occur
during the study period and (b) be nonaccidental and avoidable. Incidents had to
meet either the harm or endangerment standard. The more stringent harm standard
required that the child (a) be abused by a parent or his or her substitute and (b) be
moderately harmed by the incident. The endangerment standard included all children
who met the harm criterion, but also included children who were in danger of being
harmed. This standard also added adult caretakers who permitted sexual abuse and
nonparental teenage caretakers who permitted or perpetrated sexual abuse (Sedlak &
Broadhurst, 1996).
Three forms of sexual abuse were included. Intrusion required credible “evidence
of oral, anal, or genital penile penetration” (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996, p. 2-10).
Molestation with genital contact required that genital contact without intrusion occur.
The other or unknown sexual abuse category involved other types of contact and
noncontact abuse as well as “allegations concerning inadequate or inappropriate
supervision of a child’s voluntary sexual activities’’ (p. 2-14). Intrusive acts were
assumed to cause injury, thus fulfilling a criterion for the harm standard. For any
incident meeting the harm standard, evidence of “at least moderate physical or
emotional injury/impairment” (p. 2-14) was required. Based upon weighted estimates, 300,200 children were sexually abused during
1993, an incidence rate of 4.5/1,000 children. The incidence rate for males was
2.3/1,000 and for females was 6.8/1,000. Using only the harm standard, 217,700
children were sexually abused, representing a 3.2/1,000 incidence rate (Sedlak &
Broadhurst, 1996). Comparable incidence rates for the 1986 NIS-2 (Sedlak, 199 1)
were 2.1/1,000 for the endangerment standard and 1.9/1,000 for the harm standard,
an increase from 1986 to 1993 of 125% and 83% respectively. Whereas 75% of all
cases of sexually abused children coming to the attention of professionals were
investigated in 1986, only 44% were investigated in 1993.
When comparing rates of child sexual abuse between the 1986 and 1993
studies, it appears that the rate of sexual abuse might be increasing. Alternately, the
increases could simply reflect improved recognition by professionals. Sedlak and
Broadhurst (1996) suggest that both dynamics contributed to the increases in
incidence rates. First, because cases meeting the harm standard are unlikely to escape
the notice of professionals, Sedlak and Broadhurst suggest that cases of severe child
abuse and neglect are likely to be increasing. Their remarks, however, refer to all
types of child abuse and neglect. Because the wounds and scars from child sexual
abuse are often hidden from view, this argument does not apply as strongly to cases
of child sexual abuse. The researchers also suggest that professionals’ improved
recognition of more subtle cues may be responsible for the increase in the incidence
rate, especially the increase over time in cases meeting the endangerment standard.