Social disorganization and history of child sexual abuse against girls in sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel analysis
Date
2013
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
BMC International Health and Human Rights
Abstract
Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a considerable public health problem. Less focus has been paid to the
role of community level factors associated with CSA. The aim of this study was to examine the association between
neighbourhood-level measures of social disorganization and CSA.
Methods: We applied multiple multilevel logistic regression analysis on Demographic and Health Survey data for
6,351 adolescents from six countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2006 and 2008.
Results: The percentage of adolescents that had experienced CSA ranged from 1.04% to 5.84%. There was a
significant variation in the odds of reporting CSA across the communities, suggesting 18% of the variation in CSA
could be attributed to community level factors. Respondents currently employed were more likely to have reported
CSA than those who were unemployed (odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48 to 2.83).
Respondents from communities with a high family disruption rate were 57% more likely to have reported CSA
(OR=1.57, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.16).
Conclusion: We found that exposure to CSA was associated with high community level of family disruption, thus
suggesting that neighbourhoods may indeed have significant important effects on exposure to CSA. Further studies
are needed to explore pathways that connect the individual and neighbourhood levels, that is, means through
which deleterious neighbourhood effects are transmitted to individuals.
Description
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Keywords
International Resources, Africa, Socio-demographic factors, child sexual abuse, Social disorganization
Citation
Yahaya, I., Uthman, O. A., Soares, J., & Macassa, G. (2013). Social disorganization and history of child sexual abuse against girls in sub-Saharan Africa: A multilevel analysis. BMC International Health and Human Rights,13(1), 33-40.