Non-accidental injury to children in Hong Kong: a 3-year hospital experience

Conceptualization, reporting and underreporting of child abuse in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVE

To understand the conceptualization of child abuse and attitudes on reporting behaviors of Hong Kong adults.

METHODS

Cross-sectional telephone survey of 1,001 randomly selected subjects.

MAIN RESULTS

There is a discrepancy between perceived prevalence and the ability to name different child abuse types without prompting: 79.9% named physical abuse, while 41.2% felt it was common: 21.0% named child neglect, while 76.9% felt it was common; 13.4% named psychological abuse, while 47.4% felt it was common; 6.8% named sexual abuse, while 23.5% felt it was common. Most respondents classified severe physical abuse situations as abusive (e.g., "severely injuring a child"). Other scenarios such as "mildly injuring a child" and neglect and psychological abuse scenarios (e.g., "leaving a young child alone at home" and "shouting at a child often") were often not classified as abusive. As regards case-reporting behavior, only about 40% would report abuse cases to authorities. Those who would not report abuse were less likely to classify abuse situations as abusive and more likely to think that seeking help is difficult, troublesome and unhelpful.

CONCLUSIONS

The official reported prevalence figures for child abuse in Hong Kong should be interpreted with care, because underreporting is likely to be serious. Hong Kong people's conceptualization and awareness of what comprises child abuse is found to differ from official definitions. They are reluctant to report abuse cases, due to their perceived low efficacy of case reporting. Both the difference in conceptualization and the reluctance to report might partly be attributable to Chinese culture.

Prevalence and correlates of physical abuse in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents: a population-based approach

OBJECTIVE

The objectives were to estimate the prevalence and correlates of physical abuse-related outcomes in the family setting in Hong Kong's adolescent population.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study design was used. A randomly selected sample of 3,355 secondary school students in Kwai Tsing District of Hong Kong was surveyed. The response rate was 98%.

RESULTS

The prevalence rates of corporal punishment, being beaten by parents for no apparent reason, being beaten to injury by family members in the past 3 months and any one of the above three were 4.9% (95% CI, 4.2% to 5.6%), 2.0% (95% CI, 1.5% to 2.5%), 1.1% (95% CI, .98% to 1.2%) and 6.6% (95% CI, 5.7% to 7.5%), respectively. Students who had experienced the above physical abuse-related outcomes were at a significant disadvantage for a wide range of morbidity indicators, including self-perceived bad health, anxiety and stress, somatic illnesses (such as asthma and epigastric pain), injuries and accidents, and hospitalization. They were more likely to have poor familial relations and coping skills, and to take up habits which potentially put their health at risk, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and fighting with others.

CONCLUSIONS

Our prevalence estimates of physical abuse in the family setting for a student population in Hong Kong is an improvement over previous local estimates of physical abuse occurrence, which were mainly based on case notifications and clinical samples. The results also show that the abused adolescents are growing up in an environment filled with physical, psychological, and familial adversities.

Negative self-perception and components of stress in Canadian, British, and Hong Kong adolescents

Responses to a 68-item Adolescent Stress Scale of 14- to 16-yr.-olds in Canada (n = 369), Britain (n = 217), and Hong Kong (n = 349) were compared. Four common subscales identified by principal component analysis emerged in the three samples. Scores on subscales (Relationship Problems, Abuse at Home, Scholastic and Career Problems, and Loneliness and Social Isolation) were significantly correlated for both sexes with negative self-esteem scores in the three national groups. Differences in stress between cultures were explicable in terms of known cultural differences.