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It is a myth that strangers most often abuse
children. By far the vast majority of maltreated children
are victimized by those who are familiar to the child and
who have ready access to the child. Relatives of the child
are most often the perpetrators of child abuse. In particular,
parents make up the majority of child abuse perpetrators.
For 2010, more than 80 percent (81.2%) of perpetrators of child maltreatment were parents, and another 6.1 percent were other relatives of the victim. Of the perpetrators who were parents, more than 80 percent (84.2%) were the biological parent of the victim.
More than two-fifths (45.2%) of perpetrators were men and more than one-half (53.6%) were women.
More than one-third (36.3%) of perpetrators were in the age group of 20–29 years. More than 80 percent (84.2%) of perpetrators were between the ages of 20 and 49 years.
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