Grant: Project Grant - Priority Announcement: Population and Public Health

Child maltreatment (i.e., child abuse and neglect) is a major public health problem that is associated with poor health in childhood and adolescence, and across the lifespan. It is estimated that every year, millions of children are abused and neglected worldwide. Our research team has found that 32% of the general population in Canada reported experiencing child abuse including physical abuse, sexual abuse, and/or exposure to violence in the home. Findings from our study have furthered knowledge on the size and scope of child abuse in Canada and informed decisions for health care providers and policy makers in the country. In addition, our research has also shown that sex difference exist in relation to the prevalence of different types of child abuse in Canada with males (31%) being more likely to experience physical abuse compared to females (21.3%) but less likely than females to experience sexual abuse (5.8% vs 14.4%). Our team has also published many studies on sex differences among male and females in the relationship between child abuse and poor mental health and substance use outcomes. What remains unknown is if gender identity (socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people) and sexual identity (refers to a person's physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction) differences exist related to child abuse experiences and mental health and substance use outcomes. The current proposal aims to update and extend knowledge as our previous study conducted a decade ago and to answer essential questions about the epidemiology of child abuse in Canada that remain unknown. We will compute updated national and provincial prevalence of child abuse in Canada. We will aim to understand the experiences of child abuse among those with different gender identities and sexual identities and how this impacts mental health and substance use outcomes across age cohorts in Canada.