ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prevalence of domestic violence (DV) in Hunan.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Using a multi-stage sampling strategy, 9451 households involving 32 720 persons in urban, rural and industrial areas in Hunan, China were studied. Multiform clue investigation and face-to-face interviews were combined to investigate the prevalence of DV.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A lifetime prevalence of DV was reported by 1533 households (16.2%). A total of 1098 households (11.6%) reported at least one incident of DV in the previous year. Both lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DV varied significantly by geographic setting (P < 0.01). The lifetime prevalence abuse rates were: spousal 10.2%, child abuse 7.8%, and elder 1.5%. With regard to household structure, the lifetime prevalence of DV was highest among those remarried families (21.0%), followed by married couples with one child and extended families with several generations living together (20.1% and 20.0%, respectively). The highest rate of spousal abuse was found among remarried families (14.7%), while child and elder abuse was most prevalent among extended families (12.4% and 4.1%, respectively).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The findings suggested that although the prevalence of DV in Hunan was modest compared to Western countries, it remained a serious public health problem affecting over 1 in 10 households. Furthermore, the prevalence of various types of DV varied by geographic setting and family structure, suggesting that diverse geographic setting and family constellations carried different risk and protective features.</p>
Subject(s)
Aged , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Child Abuse , China , Epidemiology , Elder Abuse , Epidemiologic Studies , Family , Family Characteristics , Marriage , Only Child , Prevalence , Spouse AbuseABSTRACT
Objective To explore the personality characteristics of abused children in order to reduce the incidence of child abuse.Methods Two hundred and ninty five middle school students were investigated with general questionnaire and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire of children. Eighty six students experiencing child abuse (CA) last year as study group and one hundred and ninety six non-abuse children as controls (NCA) were analyzed by means of Eysenck Personality Questionnaire of children.Results The score of neuroticism in CA group was significantly higher than that in the control group (55.62±10.60/52.65±10.98,t=-2.114 P=0.035). The score of lie in CA group was significantly lower than that in control group (42.21±9.87/46.04±9.20,t=3.184 P=0.002). On the impact of different sex, the psychoticism score of male was significantly higher than that in the control group(52.37±11.49/48.04±9.97,t=-2.227 P=0.028), and the lie score was significantly lower than that in control group(41.03±9.18/46.18±8.79,t=3.125 P=0.002).The scores of those in the female were not significant.Conclusions There is a close association between the unstable emotion and child abuse in children, so training emotional self-control and emotional expression of children might be a intervention strategy in the future. In addition, the frequency of lie in children is probably one of factors that determine whether children are abused or not.