About 3 million to 4 million American homes have reports of family violence. If each home has 2.5 children, that would be at least 7.5 million kids witnessing violent actions in their home environment. Davis said children often act out behaviors they witness from adults. In the early years, children may be more aggressive with others by pushing or hitting, but as they get older, the violent tendency may lead to more serious criminal activity. Child abuse may be physical violence, physical neglect, sexual abuse or emotional abuse.
Physical abuse is intentional injury to a child by a parent or caregiver.
Victims may be overly afraid of the adult's reaction to misbehavior. Physical neglect includes the failure to give the child adequate food, clothing or supervision. Sexual abuse ranges from nontouching offenses such as exhibitionism or pornography to fondling or intercourse. Davis warned of a growing problem with emotionally neglected children. One study reported that the number of emotionally neglected children nearly tripled from 203,000 in 1986 to 585,000 in 1993.