Family cohesion and adaptability among rural children with sexual abuse experience / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the prevalence of sexual abuse among rural children and its association with family cohesion and adaptability, and to explore factors that may affect household functions of the victims.@*Methods@#A total of 1 666 rural middle school students in Hanchuan and Yunxi, Hubei were recruited with stratified cluster sampling method, multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze associated factors of the household functions of the victims.@*Results@#A total of 175 (10.50%) reported non-contact sexual abuse and 44 (2.64%) reported contact sexual abuse. Compared with control group, sexual abuse victims reported lower scores of family cohesion (F=8.97，P<0.01) and adaptability (F=4.09，P=0.02). Among the victims, maternal absence was a risk factor for poor family cohesion(OR=0.20，P<0.01), higher parental educational level and appropriate parenting methods(P<0.05) were protective factors for family cohesion and family adaptability.@*Conclusion@#Household functions of children sexual abuse victims in rural areas are generally poor, especially for victims with mothers absence, low parental education and improper parenting style. More attention should be paid to such children to minimize the impact of negative events such as sexual abuse.