Psychological and physical abuse towards four-year-old children as reported by their parents: A national Finnish survey

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dc.contributor.authorLeppäkoski, T., Vuorenmaa, M., & Paavilainen, E.
dc.date.accessioned2021-06-22T19:06:49Z
dc.date.available2021-06-22T19:06:49Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractIn Finnish society, child maltreatment is a health and social problem with harmful consequences. Identifying families at risk may help preventing child maltreatment recurrence. Objective The aim of this nationwide retrospective cross-sectional study was to describe the child- and family-related risk factors associated with physical and psychological abuse experienced by 4-year-old children. Methods This study analyzed nationwide survey data collected by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Overall, 17,009 parents (46%) visiting at a child health clinic filled out the survey consent form. For 8720 children, one or both parents completed the questionnaire (24%). Analyses were carried out using χ2 tests and binary logistic regression. Results Of the 4-year-olds, 44% had experienced at least one form of psychological abuse and 14% physical abuse. These forms of violence co-occurred in 25% of the reported cases (p < 001). Intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment co-occurred in 19.6% of psychological abuse (p < .001) and 22.5% of physical abuse cases (p < .001). Parents exposed to IPV was the risk factor most likely to predict an increased risk for both psychological abuse (OR 4.01, CI 3.41–4.72; p < .001), and physical abuse (OR 2.19, CI 1.81–2.64; p < .001). Approving of hair-pulling or pinching the child (i.e., using corporal punishment) was most likely to predict an increased risk of physical abuse (OR 13.70, CI 11.69–16.06; p < .001). Conclusions The findings emphasize the importance of preventing all forms of child maltreatment by identifying families at risk and supporting parenthood according to families' needs.en_US
dc.identifier.citationLeppäkoski, T., Vuorenmaa, M., & Paavilainen, E. (2021). Psychological and physical abuse towards four-year-old children as reported by their parents: A national Finnish survey. Child Abuse & Neglect, 118, 105127.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213421002003
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/5128
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherChild Abuse & Neglecten_US
dc.subjectchild abuseen_US
dc.subjectresearchen_US
dc.subjectFinlanden_US
dc.subjectInternational Resourcesen_US
dc.subjectBinary logistic regressionen_US
dc.subjectparentsen_US
dc.subjectrisk factorsen_US
dc.titlePsychological and physical abuse towards four-year-old children as reported by their parents: A national Finnish surveyen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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