1 in 3 Canadians Suffer Child Abuse

One in three Canadians has experienced child abuse, according to a new study.

Researchers found that a third of Canadian adults have experienced physical, sexual or witnessed domestic abuse as children.

Researchers said the findings are important because child abuse increases the risk of mental disorders and suicidal ideation or suicide attempts.

"From a public health standpoint, these findings highlight the urgent need to make prevention of child abuse a priority in Canada," Dr. Tracie Afifi, departments of Community Health Sciences and Psychiatry, University of Manitoba, and colleagues wrote in the study.

The latest study involved data from 23,395 people from across Canada who participated in the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey: Mental Health. Participants were at least 18 years old and were representative of people living in the 10 provinces.

The findings revealed that 32 percent of adult Canadians experienced child abuse, with physical abuse the most common, followed by sexual abuse, and exposure to intimate partner violence. The study showed that 26 percent of Canadians experienced physical abuse, 10 percent experienced child abuse and 8 percent of witnessed intimate partner violence as children.

Researchers found that men were more likely to have been physically abused and women were more likely to have been sexually abused or exposed to intimate partner violence as children.

The study revealed that people aged 35 to 64 were more likely than those aged 18 to 34 to have been abused as children.

"All 3 types of child abuse were associated with all types of interview-diagnosed mental disorders, self-reported mental conditions, suicide ideation [thoughts of suicide] and suicide attempts in models adjusting for sociodemographic variables," researchers wrote in the study.

"All health care providers should be aware of the relation between specific types of child abuse and certain mental conditions. Clinicians working in the mental health field should be skilled in assessing patients for exposure to abuse and should understand the implications for treatment," they concluded.

The study was published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).