OBJECTIVETo study the effect of childhood physical and emotional abuse on psychological health in undergraduate students.

METHODSA questionnaire investigation (Bernstein, revised) on childhood abuse history was performed in 1 200 undergraduate students in Xi'an. Their psychological states were assessed by Symptom Check List-90.

RESULTSSix hundred and sixty-eight students (55.7%) had physical and emotional abuse experiences, including humiliation, corporal punishment, beating or activity confinement, before 16 years old. Twenty-one percent of the 1 200 students experienced beating, even serious beating with equipment. The students who experienced serious physical and emotional abuse during childhood were more prone to the development of somatization symptoms, obsession, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety and paranoia than those students without abuse experiences.

CONCLUSIONSChildhood physical and emotional abuse is common in China and this may adversely affect the psychological health of undergraduate students who have experienced it.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child Abuse ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mental Health ; Retrospective Studies ; Students ; psychology ; Universities

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to test a model linking infant health problem, mother's depression and marital relationship to infant abuse. METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from 2009 Data of Index Studies for Korean Children and Adolescents Development. Survey data from 1,060 infants and their mothers (including infant health status and infant physical illness scale, depression scale, marital relationship scale, and child abuse scale) were used to test the model. The model was tested using path analysis techniques within structural equation modeling. RESULTS: The model fit indices suggested that the original hypothesized model adequately fit the data (chi2 = .33, df = 5, p = .84, Tucker-Lewis Index = 1.04, Comparative Fit Index = 1.00, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = .00). Infant health problem and mother's depression had a negative direct effect on marital relationship, which in turn had a direct negative effect on infant abuse. Infant health problems directly affected infant abuse and also influenced infant abuse indirectly through the marital relationship. Mother's depression had significant direct effects on infant abuse and also influenced infant abuse indirectly through the marital relationship. CONCLUSION: The findings from this study demonstrate the fundamental importance of infant health as linked to the mother's mental health, and marital relationship and increasing the quality of marital relationship may be the key to infant abuse prevention.
Adult ; Child Abuse/*psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depressive Disorder/epidemiology/*psychology ; Female ; *Health Status ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Welfare/*psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Marriage/*psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Models, Psychological ; Mothers/*psychology ; Questionnaires ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology

OBJECTIVEThis study was designed to ascertain the prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) among female students of a medical school and to explore the impact of CSA on the mental health and health related risk behaviors of the victims being sexually abused and to provide useful reference for CSA prevention.

METHODSA cross-sectional survey was carried out among 892 female students from a medical school by anonymous self-administered questionnaire during Oct. 2002. The questionnaire used for this study mainly included (1) general demographic information; (2) sexual experiences; (3) 12 forms of CSA. In this study, cases of CSA were defined as those who answered positively to one or more of the 12 questions relating to childhood sexual experiences (including non-physical contact CSA and physical contact CSA) occurring before age 16 with a person when a child did not want to. (4) Center for Epidemiologic Studies (CES)-Depression Scale; (5) Self Esteem Scale; (6) Risk Behaviors; (7) Health status' self-evaluation. Survey procedures were designed to protect students' privacy by allowing anonymous and voluntary participation. Students were seated separately, completed the self-administered questionnaire in their classrooms during a regular class period. Respondents were encouraged to participate in this survey, but given the sensitive nature of the subject, they could skip portion of the questionnaire if they were not comfortable with the questions. The completed questionnaires were sealed in envelopes by students themselves (the envelope was distributed with questionnaire at the same time), and then collected together. Data were analysed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Frequency, percentage, Chi-square test and t-test of statistics were used to analyze the CSA prevalence and explore the influence of CSA on mental health of students.

RESULTSAmong 892 female students, 25.6% reported having experienced CSA (any one of 12 forms non-physical contact and physical contact CSA) before the age of 16 years. The median age at first episode was 12 years. Comparing the rates of CSA of female students in different parents' education level, between one-child in a family and more than one-child in a family, among rural area, county and city, there were no significant differences. Compared to the students who had not experienced CSA, the students who had experienced CSA reported higher levels of depression (CES-D score 18.78 vs. 16.68, t = 2.81, P = 0.005), lower levels of health status self-evaluation (score 3.53 vs. 3.78, t = 2.94, P = 0.003); higher proportion of subjects who reported drinking alcohol and having ever smoked during the past 30 days (drinking 32.7% vs. 22.9%, chi(2) = 8.51, P = 0.004; smoking 8.8% vs. 4.4%, chi(2) = 6.17, P = 0.013); a higher percentage engaged in sexual intercourse (19.3% vs. 5.9%, chi(2) = 33.48, P = 0.000); ever seriously considered attempting suicide (23.7% vs. 15.4%, chi(2) = 8.09, P = 0.004), making a plan about how would attempt suicide (17.9% vs. 9.7%, chi(2) = 10.62, P = 0.001), being threatened or injured by someone with a weapon such as a knife, or club on school property (3.5% vs. 1.1%, chi(2) = 6.17, P = 0.013), being involved in physical fight (16.7% vs. 5.6%, chi(2) = 27.05, P = 0.000) during the 12 months preceding the survey.

CONCLUSIONSThe results further showed that the CSA of girls in our country is not uncommon, as reported before in our country and in the other countries and is associated with poor mental health and risky behaviors. The findings highlight the urgent need for the further research into CSA epidemiological characteristics, health services for the victims abused sexually, sexual abuse prevention programs in schools and the general community in China.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child Abuse, Sexual ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Mental Health ; Risk Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo determine the status of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the association of multiple ACEs with both parental alcoholism and later personal alcohol abuse among Chinese medical students with a view of improving adolescent health and reducing alcohol abuse among them.

METHODSIn this cross-sectional study, 2073 Chinese medical students completed a survey on ten categories of ACEs in Anhui province of China. The association of parental alcoholism with ACEs and personal alcohol abuse was assessed by logistic regression analyses.

RESULTSThe adjusted odds ratio (OR) for each category of ACEs in the subjects whose parents (either fathers or mothers or both) had alcohol abuse was 2 to 14 times higher than that in those with parental alcoholism (P<0.05). Subjects with bi-parental alcoholism had the highest likelihood of ACEs. Compared with the subjects without ACEs, therisk of personal alcohol abuse was increased by 2-4-folds in the subjects with ACEs, irrespective of parental alcoholism (P<0.05). The total number of ACEs (ACE score) had a graded relationship to 4 categories of personal alcohol abuse with or without parental alcoholism. The prevalence of personal alcohol abuse among the subjects with parental alcoholism was higher, which was independent of ACE scores.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of ACEs is generally serious in China. Efforts should be made to prevent and treat children with ACEs and subsequently to reduce alcohol abuse and later problems.

Adult ; Alcoholism ; psychology ; Child ; Child Abuse ; statistics & numerical data ; Child of Impaired Parents ; psychology ; China ; Data Collection ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data

OBJECTIVETo ascertain the prevalence of childhood corporal punishment by teachers in students, to explore the influencing factors and associations between childhood corporal punishment and psychological problems.

METHODSFive hundred and twenty-eight students from a college and a technical secondary school in Hebei province were surveyed by self-administered questionnaire anonymously in Dec. 2004. The questionnaire used for this survey mainly included (1) general demographic information; (2) 5 forms of childhood corporal punishments, in this study, cases of teachers' corporal punishments were defined as those who answered positively one or more of the 5 questions relating to childhood corporal punishment by school teachers occurring before the age of 16 years; (3) Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90); (4) Youth Risk Behaviours.

RESULTSOverall, 57.6% of students reported having been corporally punished at least one time, one of four forms of corporal punishment by teachers before age of 16 years, the four forms corporal punishment were non-contact corporal punishment, e.g., running for punishment, repeat-doing homework many times for punishment, standing for punishment, kneel down for punishment, not allowing to eat, sending outside in winter, etc. (53.4%), hitting/kicking/pushing very hard with open hands/fist/feet/other part of body (16.1%), beating with an object (10.2%), and locking in a small compartment/tying with rope (0.2%). No students reported having been choked, or burned/scalded, or stabbed with a sharp object by the teachers. Males had a significantly higher overall prevalence rate than females (66.4% vs. 46.6%, chi(2) = 21.01, P = 0.000). There was no statistically significant association between a history of childhood corporal punishment and the three other demographic indicators, which included residence region (rural and non-rural area) prior to 16 years of age, parental education level, and whether the respondent lived in a single or multiple children family. Compared with their peers who had not experienced childhood corporal punishment by teachers, the students with two or more forms of corporal punishments by teachers showed significantly higher scores (punished group vs. unpunished group) of psychological symptoms of somatization (0.78 vs. 0.42), obsessiveness (1.22 vs. 0.98), interpersonal sensitivity (1.24 vs. 0.89), depression (1.06 vs. 0.76), anxiety (0.90 vs. 0.64), hostility (1.11 vs. 0.68), paranoid ideation (1.11 vs. 0.71) and psychoticism (0.84 vs. 0.56), and showed significantly higher rates in sadness (54.7% vs. 26.3%), drunk (37.2% vs. 20.1%), involving in physical fighting (15.1% vs. 3.6%) in the past year and current smoking (36.0% vs. 14.5%).

CONCLUSIONSThe problem of corporal punishment by teachers is common in schools, and the problem has a significant correlation with youth mental health problems. The results highlighted urgent needs to increase public awareness on children rights, creating learning-friendly environment in school.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child Abuse ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; China ; epidemiology ; Faculty ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Punishment ; psychology ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Sex Factors ; Students ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVEChildren aged 3 - 6 years in the urban areas of China were surveyed for the first time to find out the state of child neglect (CN) as well as the major relevant risk factors so as to provide evidence for developing intervention measures.

METHODS1163 children (of whom 49.6% were males and 4.5% were minority nationality) were randomly sampled under multistage stratification, from 25 cities which representing 15 provinces of China. Based on the Child Neglect Norms used by China, prevalence of CN was identified and SPSS-Windows 11.0 was employed for statistical analysis. Scores, frequency/degrees, age, sex and 5 types (physical, emotional, educational, medical and safety) of CN on every group of the regions, were calculated. Multifactorial analysis was conducted through Binary Logistic Regression and multiple linear regression to determine the relevant risk factors.

RESULTS(1) The average degree of CN for the 3 - 6 year-olds was 42.2, with its prevalence as 28.0%. Degrees of CN for the groups of 3, 4, 5, 6-year-olds were 41.7, 42.2, 42.1 and 43.1 (F = 0.988, P > 0.05), with frequencies of 25.0%, 25.3%, 27.9% and 35.4% (chi(2) = 4.798, P > 0.05), respectively. Degrees for CN in males and females were 42.7 and 41.8 (F = 2.502, P > 0.05) with the frequencies as 32.6% and 23.7% (chi(2) = 6.585, P < 0.05), respectively. Degrees of CN for the five types were 39.4-43.4 with the frequencies as 5.1%-12.9%, respectively. No significant difference was found in the frequency of the types (with an exception on 'physical neglect') between males and females (P > 0.05). The highest frequency (42.9%) of CN was seen in the single-parent families and the lowest in large family with three generations (25.5%). (2) According to monofactorial chi(2) test, the possible risk factors of CN would include: educational background, occupation and decrease of income of the parents during last year, etc. (3) Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that the influential factors to the occurrence of CN would include: father's educational background, sex of the child and mother's occupation, etc. (4) Multiple linear regression showed that the influential factors to the degree of CN were: family structure, number of supporting family members, relationship between parents and children, etc.

CONCLUSIONThe degree and frequency of CN among children aged 3 to 6 in the urban areas of China were high but similar among the four age groups. Male children had a higher frequency of neglect than females, but with similar degree. Children in single-parent families had the highest frequency. The major influential factors of CN would include: educational background, occupation, family structure, family income of the parents which were similar to the results reported from foreign literature.

Child ; Child Abuse ; statistics & numerical data ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Parenting ; Parents ; psychology ; Social Class ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Population

BACKGROUND: Building an effective casework system for child maltreatment is a global issue. We estimated the effect of household dysfunction (i.e., interparental violence, caregiver mental health problems, and caregiver substance abuse) on child maltreatment to understand how to advance the current framework of child welfare. METHODS: The sample comprised 759 children (1- to 17-year-old; mean age was 10.6; 404 boys and 355 girls) placed in temporary custody units (one of the strongest intervention of the Japanese child protection system). Caseworkers from 180 units across 43 prefectures completed questionnaires on children and their family and were asked whether a child maltreatment report had been made after cancelation of custody in a 15-month follow-up period. The relations of household dysfunction and maltreatment reports were assessed using the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: About half (48.4%) of the children had been placed in the unit because of maltreatment, and 88.3% had a history of victimization. Seventy-six cases had maltreatment reports after cancelation. We entered household dysfunction variables individually into the model, and each had a significant relationship with maltreatment reports (hazard ratios for interparental violence, caregiver mental health problem, and substance abuse were 1.69, 1.69, and 2.19, respectively) after covariate adjustment. When treating these three variables as cumulative risk score model of household dysfunction, the hazard ratio increased with increasing number of score (1.96 for score two; 2.35 for score three; score 0 as reference). CONCLUSIONS Greater household dysfunction score is a risk of maltreatment after intensive intervention. It is imperative to construct systems facilitating cooperation between child and adult service sectors and to deliver seamless services to children and families. Our findings provide child protect services with risk-stratified interventions for children at victimization risk and promote adult-focused services to be proactive in prevention or intervention for adults with perpetration risk.
Adolescent ; Caregivers ; psychology ; Child ; Child Abuse ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Child Protective Services ; statistics & numerical data ; Child, Preschool ; Domestic Violence ; psychology ; statistics & numerical data ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Japan ; epidemiology ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Risk Factors ; Substance-Related Disorders ; epidemiology ; etiology

PURPOSE: The present study was intended to compare difference in research variables between delinquent adolescents and student adolescents, and to analyze discriminative factors of delinquent behaviors among Korean adolescents. METHODS: The research design of this study was a questionnaire survey. Questionnaires were administered to 2,167 adolescents (1,196 students and 971 delinquents), sampled from 8 middle and high school and 6 juvenile corrective institutions, using the proportional stratified random sampling method. Statistical methods employed were Chi-square, t-test, and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The discriminative factors of delinquent behaviors were smoking, alcohol use, other drug use, being sexually abused, viewing time of media violence and pornography. Among these discriminative factors, the factor most strongly associated with delinquency was smoking (odds ratio: 32.32). That is, smoking adolescent has a 32-fold higher possibility of becoming a delinquent adolescent than a non-smoking adolescent. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings, that smoking was the strongest discriminative factor of delinquent behavior, suggest that educational strategies to prevent adolescent smoking may reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency. Antismoking educational efforts are therefore urgently needed in South Korea.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior/*ethnology ; Adolescent Psychology ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Child Abuse, Sexual/ethnology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Discriminant Analysis ; Erotica/psychology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Family/ethnology ; Female ; Health Education ; Humans ; Juvenile Delinquency/*ethnology/prevention & control/statistics & numerical data ; Korea/epidemiology ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mass Media ; Questionnaires ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Smoking/adverse effects/ethnology ; Students/psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Substance-Related Disorders/complications/ethnology ; Violence/ethnology