Responses to child sexual assaults and associated factors among parents of young children / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To analyze the possible responses of parents of young children to Child sexual assault (CSA) and the potential influencing factors, so as to provide evidence for prevention programs of CSA.@*Methods@#Part of the data from "2016-2020 Child Injury Prevention Project" was used to analyze responses to CSA among parents of children younger than 3rd grade in primary school by chi square test and Logistic regression analysis.@*Results@#A total of 4 072 parents were included in the analysis. Among them, 86.8% of parents chose "to solve problems together", 51.0% of parents taking children to a "psychologist", 4.9% of parents "scolding children for being too careless", 2.9% of parents "letting child not disclose abuse" and 6.5% of parents chose "other" coping methods. Parents with foreign nationality [OR(95%CI)=2.58(1.25-5.15)] and lower education level (OR=0.26-0.64) tend to "blame" their children. Mothers [(OR(95%CI)=0.54(0.33-0.90)], higher parental education level (OR=0.27-0.72) were more reluctant to encourage their children to keep quiet. Mothers [OR(95%CI)=1.73(1.32-2.27)], older children (OR=1.33-1.78) and parents with higher education level (OR=1.65-2.99) tend to "accompany". Parents aged 30 or more, and from high school/technical school/technical secondary school tend to take their children to see a "psychologist" [OR(95%CI)=1.39(1.14-1.71), 1.79(1.26-2.53)].@*Conclusion@#Parents universally pay attention to the physical and mental health of children after CSA, but some parents still take negative coping methods, e.g. "blame" and "not disclose". Parenting educational level, duration of parent-child communication and age of children are primary factors associated with parental responses to child sexual assault. This study suggests that prevention secondary injury following child sexual assault should be farther strengthened, while fully considering the characteristics of the educated objects.