Knowledge of Taiwanese Parents Regarding Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has long been regarded as a public health problem. However, in Taiwan, little attention has been paid to understanding the ecological contexts in which children live and providing safe environments for children. Thus, the purpose of the study was to examine how Taiwanese parents perceive their roles in the prevention of CSA. A social survey method was adopted, and we recruited 344 parents who had at least one child under age of 12 from pediatric clinics in Taipei city. The self-report questionnaire included four aspects: the definition of CSA, the indicators of CSA, the grooming process of perpetrator, and demographic variables. All data were coded and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Household income was found to be significantly correlated with awareness of the definition of CSA. ANOVA analyses showed that educational level was significantly related to awareness of the indicators of CSA and the grooming process of perpetrator. Awareness of the grooming process of perpetrator should be considered in future research.