RT Article
T1 Childhood Maltreatment: Experiences and Perceptions Among Chinese Young People
JF Journal of interpersonal violence
VO 36
IS 23/24
SP 11385
OP 11408
A1 Ni, Yanyan
A2 Hesketh, Therese
LA English
YR 2021
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1780481756
AB The study aimed to investigate young Chinese people’s childhood and adolescence exposure to maltreatment from all types of perpetrators, and to explore their perceptions of such experiences. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 1,255 young people at three universities located in Zhejiang Province, Eastern China. A questionnaire drawing on validated tools was developed to measure childhood and adolescence exposure to physical and emotional maltreatment. Physical and emotional maltreatment by any perpetrator before the age of 18 years was reported by 83.3% and 85.9% of the students, respectively; extreme forms were not rare. Overall, 68.8% of the students reported physical maltreatment by parents, 56.1% by teachers, 29.8% by peers, 11.7% by siblings, and 9.1% by grandparents; 58.5% reported emotional maltreatment by parents, 43.3% by teachers, 53.3% by peers, 12.0% by siblings, and 10.0% by grandparents. Physical or emotional maltreatment by any perpetrator was common in all sociodemographic groups, irrespective of urban/rural residence and economic status. Risk factors for maltreatment differ with type of maltreatment and perpetrator. Personal experience of emotional maltreatment was generally perceived as more harmful and less acceptable than physical, especially in females. In conclusion, high levels of maltreatment of children and adolescents in China indicate the need for (a) parent education about appropriate discipline measures when raising children, (b) teacher education and enforcement of existing laws banning institutional corporal punishment, (c) the adoption of a comprehensive anti-bullying strategy, and (d) the development of a formal child protection system to protect and support the most vulnerable families.
K1 perceptions of domestic violence
K1 cultural contexts
K1 child abusers
K1 Bullying
K1 Child Abuse
DO 10.1177/0886260519898446