Risk and Protective Factors for Physical and Sexual Abuse of Children and Adolescents in Africa

Abstract

There is now conclusive evidence of the major and long-lasting negative effects of physical and sexual abuse on children. Within Africa, studies consistently report high rates of child abuse, with prevalence as high as 64%. However, to date, there has been no review of factors associated with physical and sexual child abuse and polyvictimization in Africa. This review identified 23 quantitative studies, all of which showed high levels of child abuse in varying samples of children and adults. Although studies were very heterogeneous, a range of correlates of abuse at different levels of the Model of Ecologic Development were identified. These included community-level factors (exposure to bullying, sexual violence, and rural/urban location), household-level factors (poverty, household violence, and non-nuclear family), caregiver-level factors (caregiver illness in particular AIDS and mental health problems, caregiver changes, family functioning, parenting, caregiver-child relationship, and substance abuse), and child-level factors (age, disability, physical health, behavior, and gender). These findings identify key associated factors that are potential foci of child abuse prevention interventions. In addition, there is a clear need for further rigorous longitudinal research into predictive factors and culturally relevant interventions.

The Individual and Familial Risk Factors of the Adolescents Exposed to Sexual Revictimization: The First Data from Turkey*

“…In this study, it was determined that both the parents of adolescents who experienced SA once and the parents of adolescents who experienced SR have low education levels (Butler, 2013;Demir, 2008;Metin, 2010), they have experienced more familial problems recently (Fergusson, Horwood & Lynskey, 1997;Hornor & Fischer, 2016;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015;Onen-Dogan, 2009;Sener, Anci, & Dursun, 2014), and their mothers experience physical violence (Hornor, & Fischer, 2016;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015;Onen-Dogan, 2009;Pittenger, 2016); and these findings show parallels with literature in general. In two studies done with SA victims in Turkey, it was determined that their parents have low education levels (Demir, 2008;Metin, 2010).…”

“…In the literature, it was emphasized that SA and SR victims have also experienced physical abuse (Fergusson, Horwood & Lynskey, 1997;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015), that they do not have close child-parent relationship (Breiding et al, 2011;Fergusson, Horwood & Lynskey, 1997;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015), that they have alcohol abuse (Blom, Hogberg, Olofsson & Danielsson, 2014;Classen Palesh, & Aggarwal, 2005;Davies and Jones, 2013), that there is a negative circle of friends (Tyler, Hoyt, Whitbeck, & Cauce, 2001), that they self-mutilate (Noll, Horowitz, Bonanno, Trickett & Putnam, 2003), that they have low academic achievement levels (Butler, 2013;Ibrahim, Jalali, Al-Ahmadi & Al-Bar, 2008), and that they skip school (Breiding et al, 2011). However, it was determined that the mentioned variables are observed in the SR victims and not in the victims who experienced SA once.…”

“…Likewise, such familial factors low education and income level of parents, being a single parent, and lack of were determined to be risk factors for SA. In a review study, being female and experiencing emotional as well as physical abuse were determined to be individual risk factors like having a single parent/divorced parents, domestic violence, weak child-parent relationship, alcohol or substance abuse of parents, mental problems of parents, and large family (Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015). In brief, some of the risk factors underlined in literature concerning the parents of the victims of SA are as follows: familial problems experienced by parents (Fergusson, Horwood & Lynksey, 1997;Hornor & Fischer, 2016;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015;Onen-Dogan, 2009;Sener, Anci & Dursun, 2014), domestic violence (Hornor & Fischer, 2016;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015;Onen-Dogan, 2009;Pittenger, 2016), low education level of parents (Butler, 2013;Demir, 2008;Metin, 2010), alcohol or substance abuse of parents (Fergusson, Horwood & Lynskey, 1997;Hornor, & Fischer, 2016;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015;Onen-Dogan, 2009).…”

“…However, it is also seen that studies on SR are comparatively fewer, and most of them are retrospective. Thus, the need for studies on the risk factors related to SR in literature is emphasized (Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015). In addition, there has been no study on the possible risk factors of SR in Turkey.…”

Family structure and functioning: Influences on adolescents psychological needs, goals and aspirations in a South African setting

“…For instance, whether the adolescent's family structure is a one-parent or two-parent family may influence their life aspirations and salient psychological needs in different ways (Deci & Ryan, 2000;Ryan & Deci, 2004;Davids & Roman, 2013). Related studies on the influences of family structure have been conducted mostly in developed Western settings; the generalisability of these to developing country settings is unclear (Jennings & Barber, 2013;Meinck, Cluver, Boyes & Mhlongo, 2015;Stuart, Ward & Robinson, 2016). This study investigated family structure and functioning influences on the psychological needs, as well as the life goals and aspirations, of adolescents in South Africa, a developing country with a social fabric broadly similar to many countries in southern Africa.…”