Prevalence and determinants of child maltreatment among high school students in Southern China: A large scale school based survey

Abstract

Background: Child maltreatment can cause significant physical and psychological problems. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and determinants of child maltreatment in Guangzhou, China, where such issues are often considered a taboo subject.

Factors associated with multi-disciplinary case conference outcomes in children admitted to a regional hospital in Hong Kong with suspected child abuse: a retrospective case series with internal comparison

“…12,[15][16][17] Certain parental characteristics have been identified as important risk factors for child abuse, for example, parental low mood, marital conflict precipitating emotional problems, parental low education or economic status, poor social support, and parenting stress due to handling a child's disruptive behaviour. 12,[15][16][17][18] Logistic regression analysis revealed three factors that were significant for established or high risk of child abuse (E or HR): (1) Matrix 2: severity and/or frequency of suspected physical or sexual abuse, (2) Matrix 4: location of injuries, and (3) Matrix 11: strength of family support systems (Table 3).…”

“…19,20 Corporal punishment is commonly adopted by Chinese parents as a method of child discipline, and severe physical punishment warranting medical attention or hospital admission has been reported in 3% to 9% of children. 15,18 Only 1% of abuse cases are reported and managed. 15 Contributing factors for underreporting include cultural acceptance of corporal punishment, low public awareness, and lack of victim support during the disclosure process.…”

“…18 A review of literature revealed that abusive bruises are found predominantly on the head and neck, especially on the ear, neck, and cheeks-all sites that are unlikely to be affected by accidental injury. Areas such as the forearms, upper limbs, and adjoining area of the trunk, or outside thigh may indicate 'defensive bruising' when the child tries to avoid being hit.…”

Comparing International Approaches to Safeguarding Children: Global Lesson Learning

“…In turn, we have begun to see a growing body of literature that has started to provide data and insight into areas such as prevalence rates and developing models of safeguarding as they emerge across an expanding range of countries (e.g. Fang et al, 2015;Hutchinson et al, 2015;Leung et al, 2008;Schmid and Patel, 2016;Sidebotham, 2016).…”

“…In turn, we have begun to see a growing body of literature that has started to provide data and insight into areas such as prevalence rates and developing models of safeguarding as they emerge across an expanding range of countries (e.g. Fang et al, 2015;Hutchinson et al, 2015;Leung et al, 2008;Schmid and Patel, 2016;Sidebotham, 2016).However, the dearth of international literature specifically comparing approaches to safeguarding children demonstrates how challenging it is to undertake research in this field and draw cross-national comparisons of models of child protection (Munro et al, 2011). The difficulty has largely arisen from a lack of common definitions and inconsistency in the way in which child maltreatment is classified, reported, recorded and managed.…”