How many Australian children are physically abused?
Physically abusive behaviour refers to any non-accidental physically aggressive act towards a child. Physical abuse may be intentional or may be the inadvertent result of physical punishment. Physically abusive behaviours include shoving, hitting, slapping, shaking, throwing, punching, biting, burning and kicking (Higgins, 1998; James, 1994; US National Research Council, 1993). Six contemporary Australian studies have measured the prevalence of child physical abuse within relatively large community samples. Prevalence estimates ranged from 5% to 18%, with the majority of studies finding rates between 5% and 10% (see Table 1). The discrepancy between the two studies with lowest and highest prevalence estimations can likely be attributed largely to differences in the definitions of physical abuse. The majority of studies found the prevalence of child physical abuse in Australia to be between 5% and 10%.
