• Winfried Häuser, Gabriele Schmutzer, Elmar Brähler, and Heide Glaesmer.
• Klinik für Innere Medizin I (Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie, Stoffwechsel- und Infektionskrankheiten, Psychosomatik), Klinikum Saarbrücken gGmbH, Winterberg 1, 66119 Saarbrücken, Germany. whaeuser@klinikum-saarbruecken.de
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2011 Apr 1; 108 (17): 287294287-94.

BackgroundThere are no up-to-date, representative studies on the frequency of maltreatment (abuse or neglect) among children and adolescents in Germany.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study, standardized questionnaires were administered to persons aged 14 and older in a representative sample of the German population. Statistics on maltreatment in childhood and adolescence were collected with the German version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Regression analysis was used to detect potential associations of maltreatment with demographic variables including sex, age, place of birth, and social class.Results2504 of the 4455 persons contacted (56%) completed the study. Severe emotional abuse in childhood and/or adolescence was reported by 1.6% of persons in the overall sample, severe physical abuse by 2.8%, and severe sexual abuse by 1.9%. Severe emotional neglect was reported by 6.6% and severe physical neglect by 10.8%. Female sex was a predictor for severe sexual abuse, while belonging to a low or middle social stratum was a predictor for severe physical abuse and neglect. Being older at the time of the survey was a predictor for severe physical neglect. All types of maltreatment were significantly correlated with each other (p<0.001).ConclusionThe frequencies of various types of abuse and neglect of children and adolescents that were retrospectively determined in this up-to-date study by questionnaire of a representative sample of the German population, and the correlations between them, correspond to those found in a German population-based study in 1995 and in recent American studies.

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