Indicator 8 : Physical abuse

Goal: Families will provide a stable, supportive environment for their children. Supportive and nurturing relationships promote children's emotional security, social development and academic achievement.

Rationale: Physical abuse within families has been shown to have a long-term negative impact on the emotional growth, social progress and general outlook of young people.

Year 1992 20.7% 1995 18.0% 1999 18.4% 2001 17.3%

Data source: Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning

Year 1992 18.2% 1995 13.9% 1999 14.6% 2001 13.6%

Data source: Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning

About this indicator: This indicator measures the number of children who reported having witnessed or experienced physical violence in their family. In 2001, 17.3 percent of Minnesota's ninth-grade students and 13.6 percent of 12th-grade students reported family physical abuse.

These are the lowest levels of family physical abuse reported by the Children's Report Card. In 1992, 20.7 percent of ninth-graders and 18.2 percent of 12th-graders reported family physical abuse.

Males reported less family physical abuse than females. In ninth-grade, 20 percent of males and 28 percent of females reported family physical abuse. In 12th-grade, 16 percent of males and 22 percent of females did so.

Wilkin County ninth-grade students reported the least percentage of abuse (7 percent), while Brown County reported the highest percentage of abuse (26 percent). In 12th-grade, Clearwater County reported the least abuse (5.8 percent) and Nicollet County noted the highest rate of physical abuse (23 percent).

For comparison: There are no comparable national figures available for family physical abuse.

Things to think about: Possible explanations for the lower levels of family physical violence in 2001 include greater child awareness of what constitutes abusive behavior and better intervention and public awareness programs from the state.

Technical notes: Collected in the 2001 Minnesota Student Survey, the data measures the percentage of students who answered "yes" to either or both of the following questions: "Has any adult in your household ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were afraid of that person?" or "Has anyone in your family ever hit anyone else in the family so hard they had marks or were afraid of that person?" Students answering "yes" to both questions were counted only once in the final tally.

Sources:

• Minnesota Department of Children, Families & Learning, Minnesota Student Survey. 2001. www.children.mn.state.us
• Minnesota Department of Health, www.health.state.mn.us
• Minnesota Department of Human Services, www.dhs.state.mn.us