Child maltreatment in Canada: prevalence and gender differences among youth

This study presents the first Canadian self-reported estimates of child maltreatment (CM) from youth using data from 5256 participants aged 15 to 17 years in the 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth. CM prevalence was high, particularly for emotional abuse (44.9%) and exposure to caregiver emotional intimate partner violence (39.4%). Females reported higher prevalence of sexual abuse (8.1% vs. 1.5%) and emotional abuse (52.2% vs. 35.4%) than males. Youth identifying as nonbinary or with a gender different from their sex assigned at birth reported the highest prevalence across all CM types, including 22.4% for sexual abuse and 83.7% for emotional abuse. These finding underscore the need for targeted research and policies that address structural determinants of gender-based disparities.