ArticleCureus2026
Knowledge and Attitudes Related to Child Abuse and Neglect Among High School Students in the United States: A Multicenter Questionnaire Study.
Article in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction Child abuse and neglect (CAN) constitute a pervasive public health crisis affecting millions of children annually. Adolescents occupy a strategically important position in prevention efforts. However, population-level data on United States (U.S.) high school students' CAN literacy remain limited, and few psychometrically validated instruments exist for this population. This study aimed to (1) develop and validate a standardized 10-item questionnaire on the knowledge and attitudes toward child abuse and neglect (KA-CAN) and (2) characterize CAN knowledge and attitudes among a geographically diverse U.S. high school sample and to identify sociodemographic predictors. Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted across five U.S. geographic regions (February-April 2026), enrolling 478 students in grades 9-12 (mean age 16.1 ± 1.2 years). The KA-CAN instrument was developed through a five-phase process encompassing literature review, expert panel validation (Scale-Level Content Validity Index (S-CVI) = 0.91), focus group discussion, cognitive pretesting, and psychometric assessment. Descriptive statistics, bivariate comparisons, and multivariable linear regression were applied to analyze the data. Results The overall knowledge correct-response rate was 72.9% (2,090/2,868 item-responses), with mean knowledge and attitude scores of 4.37 ± 1.21 and 15.49 ± 3.62, respectively. Knowledge deficits included recognizing that abuse extends beyond physical harm (Item 1: 51.9%; 248/478) and knowledge of mandatory reporting obligations (Item 5: 60.5%; 289/478). Prior CAN education was the strongest predictor of both knowledge (B = 0.62, p < 0.001) and attitudes (B = 1.42, p < 0.001). The KA-CAN demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.81) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.83). Conclusion Substantial gaps in CAN knowledge and reporting comfort persist among U.S. adolescents. The validated KA-CAN instrument provides a reliable standardized tool for future evaluation, and findings support the universal integration of evidence-based CAN curricula into U.S. high school programs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.