Associations between Stress and Child Verbal Abuse and Corporal Punishment during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Potential Effect Modification by Lockdown Measures

Abstract

BackgroundChild abuse appears to be on the increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the extent that lockdown measures modified the association between stress and abuses has not been systematically assessed.ObjectivesTo assess: 1) the association between caregiver’s stress and self-reported verbal abuse and corporal punishment of a child in the household, and; 2) modification of the stated association by experienced COVID-19 lockdown measures.Participants and settingsCaregivers residing in villages on lockdown in the Deep South of Thailand (n=466 participants)MethodsWe randomly sampled 12 villages in the study area, and 40 households per village. Trained enumerators who were residents of the sampled villages collected the data using phone-based interview. We measured stress level using the standard ST-5 questionnaire. We developed and pilot-tested questions for measurement of child abuse and lockdown experiences specifically for this study.ResultsCaregivers with moderate and higher levels of stress were more likely than caregivers with low level of stress to report verbal abuse (48% vs. 23%, respectively; Adj. OR = 3.12, 95% CI = 1.89, 5.15) and corporal punishment (28% vs. 8%, respectively; Adj. OR = 2.76, 95% CI = 1.41, 5.42). We found that COVID-19 lockdown experiences modified the associations between stress and verbal abuse and corporal punishment.ConclusionThere were associations between stress and abuses, which were modified by lockdown experiences. However, social desirability, lack of details in the answers, and potential confounding by mental illness co-morbidities were notable limitations of the study. Caveat is advised in the interpretation of the study findings.

COVID-19 and Caregiver Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment: The Pandemic in Review

“…Twelve articles examined two distinct types of stress during the pandemic, including parental and pandemic-related stress ( Bérubé et al, 2020 ; Brown et al, 2020 ; Calvano et al, 2021 ; Chung et al, 2020 ; Connell & Strambler, 2021 ; Freisthler et al, 2021 ; Jeharsae et al, 2021 ; Rodriguez et al, 2021 ; Spinelli et al, 2020 ; Taubman-Ben Ari et al, 2021 ; Wolf et al, 2021 ). Most cited was parental stress, which was implicated as a significant predictor for general CM, neglect, or punitive parenting across 5 of the 11 articles ( Bérubé et al, 2020 ; Chung et al, 2020 ; Spinelli et al, 2020 ; Taubman-Ben Ari et al, 2021 ; Wolf et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Other studies also showed that abusive behavior increased relative to the number of children within the home (Jeharsae et al, 2021;Yamaoka et al, 2021). Caregiver educational attainment was positively associated with emotional violence but negatively associated with verbal abuse (Jeharsae et al, 2021) and witnessing family violence (Zhang et al, 2021). Risk for witnessing family violence, however, only increased relative to decreases in educational attainment among fathers (Zhang et al, 2021).…”

“…Corporal punishment was exacerbated for parents who had more than one young child (<10 years) in the home (Ebert & Steinert, 2021). Other studies also showed that abusive behavior increased relative to the number of children within the home (Jeharsae et al, 2021;Yamaoka et al, 2021). Caregiver educational attainment was positively associated with emotional violence but negatively associated with verbal abuse (Jeharsae et al, 2021) and witnessing family violence (Zhang et al, 2021).…”