RT Article
T1 Protective Community Norms and Mental Health Risks for Severe Physical Abuse: Lessons From a Nationally Representative Study of Ghana
JF Journal of interpersonal violence
VO 38
IS 13/14
SP 8593
OP 8618
A1 Emery, Clifton R.
A2 Abdullah, Alhassan
A2 Jordan, Lucy P.
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1847367003
AB Although it has become axiomatic to quote an African proverb in discussions of child well-being, attempts to draw concrete and positive lessons from how African communities respond to and mitigate child maltreatment are comparatively few. This study tested the hypothesis that the collective value of Abiriwatia in Ghana, which supports legitimate norms of community obligations to care for children, could be protective against physical abuse. It also examined the claim that knowledge of the familial situation of community members, generated through Abiriwatia, may help them to act to mitigate the risk of caregiver’s borderline personality disorder (BPD) features. We obtained a nationally representative sample of 1,100 female caregivers from 22 Ghanaian settlements and tested the hypotheses using multilevel models. Controlling for community-level physical abuse, living in a community with high levels of Abiriwatia childcare and community authority values is associated with lower levels of very severe physical abuse, and Abiriwatia childcare may mitigate risk from the caregiver’s BPD features. Within Ghana, encouraging positive and protective aspects of traditional Ghanaian values and working to reinstate respect for these values may have positive outcomes for children. Interventions to reduce child maltreatment should be developed with reference to Abiriwatia childcare values.
K1 Ghana
K1 Social norms
K1 community norms
K1 Physical Abuse
K1 Borderline personality disorder
K1 collective childcare
K1 Abiriwatia
DO 10.1177/08862605231156418