Key messages
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A substantial minority of children in high-income countries are maltreated by their caregivers
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Repeated abuse and high levels of neglect mean that for many children maltreatment is a chronic condition
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Parental poverty, low educational achievement, and mental illness are often associated with child maltreatment
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Child maltreatment has longlasting effects on mental health, drug and alcohol problems, risky sexual behaviour, obesity, and criminal behaviour, from childhood to adulthood
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Neglect is at least as damaging as physical or sexual abuse in the long term, but has received the least scientific and public attention
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The high burden and serious, longlasting consequences of child maltreatment warrant increased investment in preventive and therapeutic strategies from early childhood