The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students

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 Shah...

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Main Authors: Laleh Gharishvandi, Masoud Lotfizadeh, Mahnaz Jafari, Fatemeh Fatahian, Zahra Davoodi, Zahra Karimi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences 2025-05-01
Series:Journal of Social Behavior and Community Health
Subjects:
Online Access:http://sbrh.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-270-en.pdf
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author Laleh Gharishvandi
Masoud Lotfizadeh
Mahnaz Jafari
Fatemeh Fatahian
Zahra Davoodi
Zahra Karimi
author_facet Laleh Gharishvandi
Masoud Lotfizadeh
Mahnaz Jafari
Fatemeh Fatahian
Zahra Davoodi
Zahra Karimi
author_sort Laleh Gharishvandi
collection DOAJ
description 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.
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spelling doaj-art-9e7f78ebde7744298cd5cdda31cd70612025-08-20T03:14:32ZengShahid Sadoughi University of Medical SciencesJournal of Social Behavior and Community Health2783-21042025-05-019115031511The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School StudentsLaleh Gharishvandi0Masoud Lotfizadeh1Mahnaz Jafari2Fatemeh Fatahian3Zahra Davoodi4Zahra Karimi5 Student Research Committee, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran. Department of Public Health, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Department of Health Education and Promotion, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Department of Public Health, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 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.http://sbrh.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-270-en.pdfchild abusephysical abuseemotional abuseparentsstudents
spellingShingle Laleh Gharishvandi
Masoud Lotfizadeh
Mahnaz Jafari
Fatemeh Fatahian
Zahra Davoodi
Zahra Karimi
The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students
Journal of Social Behavior and Community Health
child abuse
physical abuse
emotional abuse
parents
students
title The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students
title_full The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students
title_fullStr The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students
title_full_unstemmed The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students
title_short The Prevalence of Child Abuse among Primary School Students
title_sort prevalence of child abuse among primary school students
topic child abuse
physical abuse
emotional abuse
parents
students
url http://sbrh.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-270-en.pdf
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