Which Factors Are Associated With Adolescent Reports of Experiencing Various Forms of Abuse at the Family Level in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda?

Abstract

Research assessing familial violence against adolescents, using caregiver–adolescent dyads, is limited in post-conflict settings. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with adolescent-reported familial abuse in post-conflict northern Uganda. It also assessed the relationship between abuse subtypes and (a) beliefs supporting aggression and (b) adolescent well-being and life satisfaction. A randomly selected community-based sample of 10- to 17-year-old adolescents (54% girls) and their caregivers ( N = 427 dyads) in two northern Uganda districts was used. Abuse outcomes were adolescent reported. All measures used standardized tools that have been adapted for research in resource-limited settings. Analyses used multivariable linear regressions in Stata 14/IC. Overall, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse rates were 70% (confidence interval [CI] = [65.7, 74.4]), 72% (CI = [67.4, 76.0]), and 18.0% (CI = [14.0, 21.2]), respectively. Polyvictimization was 61% (CI = [55.4, 64.7]). There were no gender differences regarding adolescent reports of physical and emotional abuse, but adolescent girls were more likely to report sexual abuse and polyvictimization than adolescent boys. All forms of adolescent-reported abuse (except sexual abuse) were associated with caregiver reports of harsh disciplinary practices. In addition, emotional abuse was associated with physical and sexual abuse. Physical abuse was associated with being an orphan and emotional abuse. Sexual abuse was associated with being a girl, older adolescent age, living in a larger household, and emotional abuse. Polyvictimization was positively associated with being an orphan, younger caregiver age, caregiver-reported poor monitoring and supervision, and higher household socioeconomic status, but negatively associated with lower parental role satisfaction. Physical and emotional (but not sexual) abuse and polyvictimization were associated with beliefs supporting aggression among adolescents. All abuse subtypes were associated with lower levels of perceived well-being and life satisfaction among adolescents in this study. Child abuse prevention programs have the potential to improve adolescent–caregiver interaction and interrupt the violence transmission cycle in this setting.

Childhood Polyvictimization and Associated Health Outcomes: A Systematic Scoping Review

“…Regarding the types of victimization included in the polyvictimization construct (Supplementary Appendix A), both specific domain and individual items of victimization differed widely. To iterate, the number and the types of victimization included in polyvictimization constructs varied extensively from using two victimization types with three individual items (Shevlin et al, 2015) to three victimization types with 14 items (Natukunda et al, 2019), 36 individual victimization items grouped into six broader types (Álvarez-Lister et al, 2014), 44 victimization items of 10 types (Michel-Smith, 2019), and to 75 items of 10 different types of victimization (Riedl et al, 2019). At times, direct violence exposure was classified as one type (Voith et al, 2014), while, at other times, direct violence exposure was often further classified into more detailed victimization types, such as sexual violence, physical violence, or conventional crime (e.g., Aho et al, 2016; Kirchner et al, 2020; Turner et al, 2017).…”

“…A second approach to the categorical variable (7.29%) was to define polyvictimization as experiencing more than one type of violence (e.g., Charak et al, 2015; Hickman et al, 2013; Itani et al, 2018; Kamndaya et al, 2017; Natukunda et al, 2019; Sabri et al, 2012; Shevlin et al, 2015; Updegrove & Muftic, 2019). These studies compared the polyvictimization group with those who experienced none or one type of violence.…”

Victimization among adolescents of female sex workers: findings from the children of at-risk parents (CARP) study in Uganda

“…Unsparingly, the current study showed that the most reported forms of victimization by adolescents were: caregiver victimization, conventional crime, and witnessed/indirect victimization. Secondly, the two decades of armed conflict (1986–2006) between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government could have negatively impacted adolescents’ exposure to victimization [ 51 ] by fostering beliefs and traditions that support corporal punishment to discipline children [ 57 ]. Hence, the beliefs, traditions and practices that perpetuate corporal punishment against children need to be strongly discouraged through targeted education, dialogue, and implementation of the national law against corporal punishment.…”