Abstract
BackgroundThere is a paucity of research on correlates of child maltreatment in limited-resource countries with a relatively high tolerance of harsh discipline. This Vietnamese study aimed to investigate associations between different types of child maltreatment and child emotional, cognitive, and physical health functioning as well as moderation effects of gender and ethnicity.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted with 1851 randomly selected students aged 12–17 years. Both self-report and more objective measures (weight, height, study ranking, and a memory test) were used.ResultsAll types of child maltreatment were associated with emotional dysfunctioning. Life time and past year experiences of physical abuse and life time experiences of sexual abuse and neglect were related to poorer perceived physical health. The study did not find associations between any type of child maltreatment and overweight or underweight status. Regarding cognitive functioning, life time experience of sexual abuse and neglect were related to poorer working memory performance. Noticeably, emotional abuse was related to better academic performance, which might be an indication of “tiger parenting” practice in Vietnam, implying academic performance stimulation at the expense of emotional security. No significant moderation effects by gender and ethnicity were found.ConclusionEven in a culture in which harsh discipline is normative, child maltreatment was related to negative aspects of child wellbeing including emotional, cognitive, and physical health functioning. Efficient and low-cost interventions on child maltreatment should be developed and conducted in Vietnam as well as other countries with similar contexts.
Highlights
There is a paucity of research on correlates of child maltreatment in limited-resource countries with a relatively high tolerance of harsh discipline
We investigated the relation between five types of child maltreatment and child emotional, cognitive, and physical functioning while controlling for comorbidity among different types of child maltreatment in a representative sample in Vietnam
Emotional abuse was not related to sexual abuse, past year experience of emotional abuse was not associated with neglect, and life time experience of emotional abuse was not related to life time and past year experience of witnessing parental conflict
Summary
There is a paucity of research on correlates of child maltreatment in limited-resource countries with a relatively high tolerance of harsh discipline. This Vietnamese study aimed to investigate associations between different types of child maltreatment and child emotional, cognitive, and physical health functioning as well as moderation effects of gender and ethnicity. The effects of different types of child maltreatment on emotional functioning have been studied frequently, mostly in Western high resource countries [2, 5]. There is meta-analytic evidence for the association between physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect and a higher risk on depression and anxiety, and between physical abuse and PTSD and panic disorder [2]. There is empirical evidence that child maltreatment is linked to poorer interactions with peers [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
