About 1 in 8 American children will experience some form of maltreatment serious enough to be confirmed by authorities, new research shows.

Slightly more than 2 percent of kids are victimized during their first year of life, 5.8 percent are mistreated before their fifth birthdays, and 12.5 percent experience some form of abuse or neglect before they turn 18, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.

The estimates are based on data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Child Files, which identified nearly 5.7 million children who suffered documented cases of neglect or physical, sexual or emotional abuse from 2004 to 2011. (The true count of victims is believed to be much higher, since most cases never make it to government officials.)

African American children were found to be the most at risk, with 20.9 percent of them projected to suffer abuse or neglect by the time they turned 18.