Prevalence and Demographic Distribution of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse in Japan

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was conducted with a national epidemiological survey to investigate the prevalence and demographic distribution of adult survivors of child abuse in Japan. A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the history of child abuse and the demographic characteristics. The participants reported the following 4 types of child abuse: physical abuse (3%), sexual abuse (0.6%), neglect (0.8%), and psychological abuse (4%). Significant unequal distribution of child abuse was found to be associated with sex, living region, marital status, job status, and educational status. We determined the prevalence of adult survivors of child abuse in Japan and found that their demographic characteristics were unequally distributed. Policy makers and public health providers should take these demographic disparities into account in considering effective public health interventions for survivors of child abuse.

Improving measurement of child abuse and neglect: A systematic review and analysis of national prevalence studies

“…There were four studies in the USA [47][48][49][50], three in the UK [51][52][53], two in Hong Kong [54][55] two in Taiwan [56][57], and two in Germany [58,59]. There was one study in Denmark [60], the Netherlands [61], Switzerland [62], Japan [63], Suriname [64], Saudi Arabia [65], Israel [66], South Africa [67], and Hungary [68]. In the Balkans study [46], eight met eligibility criteria based on the number of types of maltreatment studied: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Romania, and Serbia; in general for our purposes, we treat these as one study.…”

“…Fourteen studies measured all five maltreatment types [47][48][49][50][51]53,[56][57]61,[64][65][66][67][68]. Of nine studies measuring four maltreatment types, seven omitted EDV [46,52,[58][59][60][62][63], and two omitted sexual abuse [54][55]. Eleven studies measured prevalence throughout childhood and in the past year; nine measured prevalence through childhood only, and three measured past year incidence only.…”

“…These studies occurred in seven countries (USA, UK, Suriname, Saudi Arabia, Israel, South Africa and Hungary), and only three involved a sample of adults providing data about experiences over their entire childhood [53,65,68]. Four studies in Germany, the UK and Japan obtained information from adults about all maltreatment across childhood except EDV [52,[58][59]63].…”

“…Switzerland [62], Suriname [64], and the Balkans study [46]. Eleven studies were conducted in households by interviews, in Hong Kong [54][55], Hungary [68], the UK [51][52][53], Germany [58][59], Japan [63], Saudi Arabia [65], and South Africa [67]. Five studies used remote computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI), with four in the USA [47][48][49][50], and one in Denmark [60].…”

“…Two studies used the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire [58][59]. Single studies used the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire [65], the Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire [68], and the Lifestyle and Attitudes Towards Sexual Behavior instrument [63]. Four studies used a blend of instruments [51,57,61,64].…”