Child maltreatment experience among primary school children: a large scale survey in Selangor state, Malaysia

PLoS One. 2015 Mar 18;10(3):e0119449. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119449. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Official reports of child maltreatment in Malaysia have persistently increased throughout the last decade. However there is a lack of population surveys evaluating the actual burden of child maltreatment, its correlates and its consequences in the country. This cross sectional study employed 2 stage stratified cluster random sampling of public primary schools, to survey 3509 ten to twelve year old school children in Selangor state. It aimed to estimate the prevalence of parental physical and emotional maltreatment, parental neglect and teacher- inflicted physical maltreatment. It further aimed to examine the associations between child maltreatment and important socio-demographic factors; family functioning and symptoms of depression among children. Logistic regression on weighted samples was used to extend results to a population level. Three quarters of 10-12 year olds reported at least one form of maltreatment, with parental physical maltreatment being most common. Males had higher odds of maltreatment in general except for emotional maltreatment. Ethnicity and parental conflict were key factors associated with maltreatment. The study contributes important evidence towards improving public health interventions for child maltreatment prevention in the country.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Child Abuse / ethnology
  • Child Abuse / psychology
  • Child Abuse / statistics & numerical data*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Depression / epidemiology
  • Depression / ethnology
  • Emotions
  • Faculty
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Malaysia / epidemiology
  • Malaysia / ethnology
  • Male
  • Parents
  • Physical Abuse / ethnology
  • Physical Abuse / psychology
  • Physical Abuse / statistics & numerical data
  • Prevalence
  • Schools / statistics & numerical data*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*

Grants and funding

CWY work was supported by University of Malaya Research Grant (CG052-2013) and University of Malaya/Ministry of Higher Education (UM/MOHE) High Impact Research Grant (Grant no: E000010-20001) [http://umresearch.um.edu.my/]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.