{"id":13879,"date":"2020-04-15T09:50:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/?p=13879"},"modified":"2020-04-15T09:50:55","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T14:50:55","slug":"hidden-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Facts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[This article originally appeared in SALVO (www.salvomag.com<\/a>) on April 9, 2020; it is reproduced here with permission. \u2013 Ed.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most in the U.S. are on week 3 or more of \u201csocial distancing,\u201d or perhaps even a mandated \u201cshelter-in,\u201d and the New York Times<\/em> is now reporting on an unanticipated and tragic result of the pandemic-protection guidelines: a rise in domestic violence and child abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestic violence is up around the world<\/a>, reports the story, leaving overstretched hotlines and shelters scrambling to find help for women caught in abusive relationships.[1]<\/a> In China, one woman was reportedly told that someone would be there to help her \u201cafter the crisis.\u201d In Italy, abuse reports began to soar soon after implementation of mandatory lockdowns. \u201cShelters could not take them because the risk of infection was too great,\u201d reports the Times<\/em>, so local officials were told they could use empty hotel rooms as temporary places for victims to go. France and Spain soon followed suit. And on Sunday, U.N. Secretary General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres wrote on Twitter, \u201cI urge all governments to put women\u2019s safety first as they respond to the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shouldn\u2019t, according to many experts, have been\nsurprising. In many ways this pandemic produces the perfect environment for\nabuse. Stress, financial worries, and fear of the virus itself combine in a\nscenario wherein individuals are living with each other literally 24\/7, with\nnowhere to go. Tensions are high, and people snap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tragically, the same is to be expected for child abuse. One\nTexas hospital featured in a Newsweek <\/em>story\nwas reporting rising\nrates of child abuse<\/a> weeks ago.[2]<\/a> Most\nmedia stories on this trend focus on the potential for a child-abuse epidemic\ninstead of a current reality. Unlike the victims of domestic violence, who can\nat least call a hotline, children literally have no outlet right now\u2014meaning\nchild abuse is more unseen than ever. Dr. Nina Agrawal, a child abuse\npediatrician, writes<\/a>\nin the New York Times<\/em>, \u201cEntire\nfamilies are sheltering at home, often in close quarters. Anxiety about health,\neducation and finances is high. Children aren\u2019t seeing the teachers, counselors\nand other adults who would normally raise concerns about their well-being. The\nCovid-19 pandemic has created the conditions for a rise in child abuse that\ncould go unchecked.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s a few truths that such media reports omit. The NYT<\/em> story on domestic violence focuses\non husband-wife relationships, and while it\u2019s true that yes, some husbands do\nabuse their wives, for the most part, marriage is a hugely protective influence\nfor women. A report\nby the Heritage Foundation<\/a> found that in America, married women with\nchildren suffer far less (half the rate) from both domestic abuse and violent\ncrime than do single mothers.[4]<\/a> In\nChina, researchers\ndiscovered<\/a> that women who were cohabiting were more than twice as likely as\nmarried women to experience intimate partner violence, and their injuries were\nfar more severe.[5]<\/a>\nMarriage and family expert W. Bradford Wilcox, summarizing another study, writes\nin the Washington Post<\/em><\/a>, \u201cmarried\nwomen are the least likely to be victimized by an intimate partner.\u201d[6]<\/a> Not\nonly are married women safer in intimate partnerships, but they also are\nprotected from other types of violent crimes. Wilcox continues, \u201cThe bottom\nline is that married women are less likely to be raped, assaulted, or robbed\nthan their unmarried peers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for children, Dr. Agrawal writes, \u201cWhen there is household dysfunction\u2014domestic violence, parental substance abuse or a mental disorder\u2014the risk of child abuse goes up, and there\u2019s reason to believe all of these things will increase during this pandemic.\u201d She writes of sexual abuse in particular, saying that one in four girls is sexually abused before the age of 18, and that the perpetrator is typically a \u201cfamily member in the child\u2019s home.\u201d \u201cToo often,\u201d Agrawal writes, \u201cchildren disclose the abuse to their mothers but the perpetrator remains in the home because he is the primary breadwinner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impression one might get from reading this story is that\nthe home is a fragile place for children, where adults routinely physically\nassault and sexually abuse them. The reality, however, is that children living\nin homes with their married, biological parents are safer than any other\ncategory of children. It is children in broken homes who are at increased risk.\nAs Wilcox summarizes, \u201cgirls and boys are significantly more likely to be\nabused when they are living in a cohabiting household with an unrelated\nadult\u2014usually their mother\u2019s boyfriend.\u201d Here, he quotes the\nFourth Annual Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect<\/a>, which finds, \u201conly\n0.7 per 1,000 children living with two married biological parents were sexually\nabused, compared to 12.1 per 1,000 children living with a single parent who had\nan unmarried partner.\u201d[7]<\/a>\nAccording to this study, \u201cChildren living with their married biological parents\nuniversally had the lowest rate, whereas those living with a single parent who\nhad a cohabiting partner . . . had the highest rate in all maltreatment\ncategories. Compared to children living with married biological parents, those\nwhose single parent had a live-in partner had more than 8 times the rate of\nmaltreatment overall, over 10 times the rate of abuse, and nearly 8 times the\nrate of neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are trying times, and to be sure, typical risk factors\nfor domestic violence and child abuse are colliding in a perfect storm\nscenario. And certainly, there are indeed children who are more at risk because\nthey do not have access to educators or other adults who would help them. But\nthe media does us a disservice when they tell gut-wrenching stories of abuse\nthat focus on married women, or imply that children can only be safe when they\nsee a variety of professionals several times a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statistics tell a far different story: The married,\ntwo-biological-parent family is safest for both women and<\/em> children. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a>\nAmanda Taub, \u201cA New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, April 6, 2020, available\nat https:\/\/nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/06\/world\/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a>\nChantal da Silva, \u201cTexas Hospital Child Abuse Cases Rise in COVID-19 Outbreak:\n\u2018It\u2019s Hard to Think That It\u2019s Just Coincidental,\u201d Newsweek<\/em> (March 22, 2020), available at https:\/\/newsweek.com\/texas-hospital-child-abuse-cases-rise-covid-19-outbreak-1493642.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a>\nNina Agrawal, \u201cThe Coronavirus Could Cause a Child Abuse Epidemic,\u201d New York Times<\/em> (April 7, 2020), available\nat https:\/\/nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/07\/opinion\/coronavirus-child-abuse.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a>\nPat Fagan, Kirk Johnson, and Robert Rector, \u201cMarriage: Still the Safest Place\nfor Women and Children,\u201d Backgrounder<\/em>\n1732, The Heritage Foundation (March 9, 2004), available at https:\/\/heritage.org\/marriage-and-family\/report\/marriage-still-the-safest-place-women-and-children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Janet\nYuen-Ha Wong et al., “A Comparison of Intimate Partner Violence and\nAssociated Physical Injuries Between Cohabiting and Married Women: A 5-Year\nMedical Chart Review,” BMC Public\nHealth<\/em> 16 (2016): ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5129237.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> W.\nBradford Wilcox and Robert Fretwell Wilson, \u201cOne Way to End Violence Against\nWomen? Married Dads,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>\n(June 10, 2014), available at https:\/\/washingtonpost.com\/posteverything\/wp\/2014\/06\/10\/the-best-way-to-end-violence-against-women-stop-taking-lovers-and-get-married\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> A.J. Sedla, J. Mettenburg, M. Basena, I. Petta, K. McPherson, A. Greene, and S. Li, \u201cFourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS\u20134): Report to Congress,\u201d Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, 2010, available at https:\/\/acf.hhs.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/opre\/nis4_report_congress_full_pdf_jan2010.pdf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Domestic Abuse is at its Worst During the Pandemic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":13882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"Domestic Abuse is at its Worst During the Pandemic","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"510"},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[804,510,805],"tags":[1587,2779,911],"class_list":["post-13879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-family","category-foreground","tag-covid-19","tag-domestic-abuse","tag-family"],"yoast_head":"\nHidden Facts - IFN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hidden Facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Domestic Abuse is at its Worst During the Pandemic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IFN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-15T14:50:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-15T14:50:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/violence-against-women-4209778_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicole King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@iFamNewsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@iFamNewsEN\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nicole King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hidden Facts - IFN","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hidden Facts","og_description":"Domestic Abuse is at its Worst During the Pandemic","og_url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts","og_site_name":"IFN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews","article_published_time":"2020-04-15T14:50:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-04-15T14:50:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/violence-against-women-4209778_1280.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nicole King","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@iFamNewsEN","twitter_site":"@iFamNewsEN","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nicole King","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts"},"author":{"name":"Nicole King","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/35d200d06cf0beaffb53d0d1a6a8c870"},"headline":"Hidden Facts","datePublished":"2020-04-15T14:50:50+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-15T14:50:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts"},"wordCount":1199,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/violence-against-women-4209778_1280.jpg","keywords":["CoViD-19","domestic abuse","family"],"articleSection":["Breaking News","Family","Foreground"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts","name":"Hidden Facts - IFN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/violence-against-women-4209778_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-15T14:50:50+00:00","dateModified":"2020-04-15T14:50:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/violence-against-women-4209778_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/violence-against-women-4209778_1280.jpg","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/hidden-facts#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Familia","item":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/es\/categoria\/familia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Hidden Facts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/","name":"IFN","description":"International Family News Network","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#organization","name":"iFamNews","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Share-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Share-logo.png","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"iFamNews"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/iFamNews","https:\/\/x.com\/iFamNewsEN"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/35d200d06cf0beaffb53d0d1a6a8c870","name":"Nicole King","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/903f35ca5903fb058276f9e28fec6ab17dd5c1ae49e670dfa47483ff62c86444?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/903f35ca5903fb058276f9e28fec6ab17dd5c1ae49e670dfa47483ff62c86444?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/903f35ca5903fb058276f9e28fec6ab17dd5c1ae49e670dfa47483ff62c86444?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nicole King"},"description":"Nicole M. King is the Managing Editor of IOF's journal, The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy, the United States\u2019 leading journal of family-policy research. In that capacity, she writes, edits and corresponds with editors and contributors to ensure that each issue provides the most relevant and accurate research and policy analysis available. Nicole holds a B.A. in English as well as M.A.s in English and Political Theory. She has contributed to The Front Porch Republic and Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, among others. She is also a contributing editor to SALVO Magazine and a blogger at salvomag.com.","url":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/author\/nkingifamnews-com"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13879"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14316,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13879\/revisions\/14316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ifamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}