Child Maltreatment in Canada: An Understudied Public Health Problem (Commentary) (Survey‪)‬

The World Health Organization defines child maltreatment as physical and emotional mistreatment, sexual abuse, neglect and negligent treatment of children, child exploitation and exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV). (1,2) Child maltreatment is a major public health problem associated with impairment in childhood, adolescence, and extending throughout the lifespan. Within Canada, high-quality child maltreatment studies have been conducted and are critical for informing prevention and intervention efforts. However, child maltreatment is an understudied public health problem in Canada. Compared to other parts of the world (e.g., United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Mexico), the number of studies conducted in Canada is limited and the data are less diverse. For example, Canadian data sources have included representative and non-representative community samples, hospital and clinical samples, school-based samples, as well as data from protective services, shelters, and legal/police records. One notable survey was the Ontario Mental Health Supplement (OHSUP) conducted in 1990; examination of these data indicated that a childhood history of slapping and spanking and physical and/or sexual abuse was associated with increased odds of psychiatric disorders in adulthood. (3,4) Importantly, to date, national-level representative child maltreatment data from the general population in Canada do not exist. This means that current data sources are only able to provide information on the incidence of child maltreatment reported to child welfare and prevalence estimates from a small number of provincial- and community-level samples in Canada. Apart from the recent Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) (see next section), many of these estimates are out of date (e.g., OHSUP), leaving many questions regarding child maltreatment in Canada unanswered. Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect