The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students

Laleh  Gharishvandi; Masoud  Lotfizadeh; Mahnaz  Jafari; Fatemeh  Fatahian; Zahra  Davoodi; Zahra  Karimi

doi:10.18502/jsbch.v9i1.18694

Laleh Gharishvandi Student Research Committee, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
Masoud Lotfizadeh Department of Public Health, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
Mahnaz Jafari School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Fatemeh Fatahian Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Zahra Davoodi Department of Public Health, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
Zahra Karimi School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jsbch.v9i1.18694

Keywords: Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Parents, Students

Abstract

Background: Child abuse is a major psychological and social problem in all countries and is affected by a set of cultural, social, and family factors as well as some characteristics of children. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of child abuse among primary school students in Shahrekord.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2024 on 245 students from fourth to sixth grades in public schools of Shahrekord selected through cluster sampling. Four clusters were randomly selected from all primary schools in this area, 4 clusters were randomly selected and then the final sample (126 females) was randomly selected from the above sections. Hosseinkhani researcher-made Child Abuse Questionnaire was used in this study. Chi-square, t-test, analysis of variance, and correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data.

Results: The results of the study showed that 30.6% of children experienced physical abuse, 56.4% of them had experienced emotional abuse, and 99.6% experienced negligence as a type of abuse. The data showed only a significant relationship between negligence and fathers' education (p=0.032), so increasing fathers' education level led to more negligence. There was a significant relationship between having an experience of emotional-psychological abuse and having an experience of physical abuse (P <0.001), i.e, students who had higher score in emotional-psychological dimension reported more child abuse in physical dimension.

Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of child abuse among students, it is necessary to take steps to reduce child abuse by educating parents on correct pedagogical methods.