In a virtually unreported statistical analysis of the prevalence of childhood trauma in England and Wales, released last month, the ONS found 31.5% of adult women experienced at least one of the following types of childhood trauma: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse.
Women were significantly more likely than men to have experienced all forms of childhood trauma except for physical abuse.
- 24.5% of women experienced emotional abuse (versus 20.9% of men);
- 16% of women experienced physical abuse (versus 17.1% of men);
- 13.9% of women experienced sexual abuse (versus 4.1% of men);
- 9.2% of women experienced neglect (versus 6.1% of men).
Just under half of all victims (48.3%) experienced one type of abuse, while 28.7% experienced two types, 15.9% experienced three and 7.0% experienced all four types of abuse measured in the survey. Women (10.1%) were significantly more likely to experience all four types of abuse than men (3.1%). Of those who reported experiencing neglect, 83.5% also experienced emotional abuse, 65.5% also experienced physical abuse, and 33.8% also experienced sexual abuse.
Perpetrated by whom?
The analysis included adult perpetrators only, with the exception of the category of sexual abuse, which included abuse perpetrated by adults and other children.
Among women who experienced emotional abuse, the most frequently identified perpetrators were mothers (30.1%), fathers (29.7%) and an adult friend (15.5%). For men, the most common perpetrators of emotional abuse were fathers (29.1%), a stranger (20.1%), mothers (20.0%) and a person in a position of trust or authority (19.8%).
Among women who experienced physical abuse, the most common perpetrators were fathers (55.8%), mothers (43.2%), and a previous romantic partner at the time of the abuse (9.2%). Among men, the most common perpetrators of physical abuse were fathers (46.9%), mothers (31.2%), strangers (17.0%) or people in a position of trust or authority (16.8%).
Compared with women, men had a higher prevalence of experiencing sexual abuse from a person in a position of trust or authority (17.1% versus 5.9%), whereas women had a higher prevalence of their perpetrator being ‘another relative’ (9.8% compared with 4.6%) or a current romantic partner at the time of abuse (6.2% versus 1.7%). Perpetrators of child sexual abuse were identified as male in 91.3% of cases, and over 18 in 69.8% of cases.
All cases of childhood neglect were defined as perpetrated by a parent or other caregiver.
Why are these figures so high?
For several years the ONS had reported around 1 in 5 adults experienced abuse (including emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and neglect) during their childhood. However, ‘childhood’ was previously defined as ending at age 16.
The new ONS analysis, published in November 2025, included for the first time abuse experienced by children aged 16 and 17. This increased the prevalence of childhood trauma significantly to 1 in 4 for boys and 1 in 3 for girls.
Was this report deliberately buried?
It’s hard to say for sure. It does seem very strange that only the Guardian reported on such a vital story, that has significant consequences for public health and child safety. It’s difficult to believe that journalists at major news outlets don’t receive ONS press releases. Additionally, when the prevalence statistics were lower (before 16 and 17-year-old children were included) the ONS annual updates were more widely reported on.
It is possible that editors of mainstream news outlets rejected this story as it doesn’t fit well with some prominent political narratives around issues such as grooming gangs, adult mental health, prevalence of disability, social security payments (i.e. the ‘welfare state’). The new data also raises important questions around the need for government investment in education, child protection and better support for parents – issues that right-leaning groups (and the mainstream media is predominantly owned by these interests) see as challenging their ‘small state’ political ideology.
Living under Patriarchy 