Table 1.

Twelve-Month Prevalence of Maltreatment Events for 3-Year-Old Children as Self-Reported by Their Mothers (n=2412)

Parent-Child Conflicts Tactics Scales and Items	Ever in Last Year, %
Neglecta
Were so caught up in your own problems that you were not able to show or tell your child that you loved him/her	7
Were not able to make sure your child got to a doctor or hospital when he/she needed it	3
Had to leave your child home alone, even when you thought some adult should be with him/her	2
Were not able to make sure your child got the food he/she needed	2
Were so drunk or high that you had a problem taking care of your child	1
Corporal punishmentb
Spanked him/her on the bottom with your bare hand	74
Slapped him/her on the hand, arm, or leg	63
Hit him/her on the bottom with something like a belt, hairbrush, a stick or some other hard object	26
Pinched him/her	9
Shook him/her	6
Psychological aggressionb
Shouted, yelled, or screamed at him/her	84
Threatened to spank or hit him/her but did not actually do it	80
Swore or cursed at him/her	20
Said you would send him/her away or kick him/her out of the house	6
Called him/her dumb or lazy or some other name like that	5

^aThese items were prefaced by the following statement: “Sometimes things can get in the way of caring for your child the way you would like to: for example, money problems, personal problems, or having a lot to do. Please tell me how many times in the last year this has happened to you in trying to care for your child. Please tell me how many times in the past year you (ITEM).”

^bThese items were prefaced by the following statement: “Children often do things that are wrong, disobey, or make their parents angry. We would like to know what you have done when your child did something wrong or made you upset or angry. I am going to read a list of things you might have done in the past year, and I would like you to tell me how often you have done each thing in the past year. How many times in the past year did you (ITEM)?”