Abstract
BackgroundChildren’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood.MethodsA three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school-attending children (response rate: 66.7%) in three grades (aged 11, 13 and 16 years) was drawn from schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Children completed the ICAST-C questionnaire, which measures children’s exposure to violence by any perpetrator.ResultsExposure rates for psychological violence were between 64.6% (FYROM) and 83.2% (Greece) for lifetime and 59.62% (Serbia) and 70.0% (Greece) for past-year prevalence. Physical violence exposure varied between 50.6% (FYROM) and 76.3% (Greece) for lifetime and 42.5% (FYROM) and 51.0% (Bosnia) for past-year prevalence. Sexual violence figures were highest for lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (18.6%) and lowest in FYROM (7.6%). Lifetime contact sexual violence was highest in Bosnia (9.8%) and lowest in Romania (3.6%). Past-year sexual violence and contact sexual violence prevalence was lowest in Romania (5.0 and 2.1%) and highest in Bosnia (13.6 and 7.7% respectively). Self-reported neglect was highest for both past-year and lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (48.0 and 20.3%) and lowest in Romania (22.6 and 16.7%). Experiences of positive parental practices were reported by most participating children in all countries.ConclusionsWhere significant differences in violence exposure by sex were observed, males reported higher exposure to past-year and lifetime sexual violence and females higher exposure to neglect. Children in Balkan countries experience a high burden of violence victimization and national-level programming and child protection policy making is urgently needed to address this.
Highlights
Children’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue
Sexual violence includes “any sexual activities imposed by an adult or child against which the child is entitled to protection by criminal law. [...] Sexual activities are considered as abuse when committed against a child by any other child if the offender is significantly older than the victim or uses power, threat or other means of pressure”
The Balkan Epidemiological Child Abuse and Neglect (BECAN) research project was a cross-sectional study of lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in the following nine countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey
Summary
Children’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue. Violence exposure in childhood is associated with negative physical and emotional health outcomes [4] which include anxiety and depression [5,6,7], suicidal ideation [8,9,10], substance use [11], dissociation and personality disorders, neurobiological implications [12] as well as with wider psychosocial consequences such as adolescent delinquency, educational shortcomings [13, 14], difficulties in relationships and family roles in adulthood, criminal activity [15] and reproduction of the “circle of violence” [16]. Violence against children is more broadly defined than child abuse and neglect or child maltreatment
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