Violence Against Children in the Arab Sector and the Place of the Child in the Family Structure in Arab Society-Situation Picture and Suggestions for Possible Solutions

Abstract

Physical abuse and violence against children are often defined differently by researchers and writers in the academic literature. The difference and diversity in definitions is mainly due to the academic discipline in which the research was conducted and/or the direction of the research and the subjects of the research. Mainly, broad definitions of physical abuse of children can be identified in the literature (for example: pushing, slapping or beating). On the other hand, there is a minority of "narrow" and specific definitions (such as: beating with an object, confinement in a closed room, etc.). The reason lies, mainly, in the methodological context and the frequency of the phenomena it is easier to define cases under a comprehensive definition (such as beating) and it is also difficult to find enough cases for cases with a "narrow" definition, to create validity for the findings. Also the methods of reporting parental aggression or abuse towards children (for example: Welfare reports, police reports, self-reports, etc.) also affect the definitions due to the focus of the phenomenon (for example: in the context of police reports, the level of attribution and definition is the criminal level), subjective feelings (feelings of the person reporting or answering the research questions) or determination of the researcher and the context of the research article (for example: focus on sexual violence). In the present article, I chose to use the following definition: violence against children is the control of one over another in the family relationship and includes one or more of the following types of violence: sexual, physical, emotional-psychological, economic and neglect.