Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study
Abstract Background Children’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood. Methods A three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13034-017-0208-x |
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| author | George Nikolaidis Kiki Petroulaki Foteini Zarokosta Antonia Tsirigoti Altin Hazizaj Enila Cenko Jelena Brkic-Smigoc Emir Vajzovic Vaska Stancheva Stefka Chincheva Marina Ajdukovic Miro Rajter Marija Raleva Liljana Trpcevska Maria Roth Imola Antal Veronika Ispanovic Natasha Hanak Zeynep Olmezoglu-Sofuoglu Ismail Umit-Bal Donata Bianchi Franziska Meinck Kevin Browne |
| author_facet | George Nikolaidis Kiki Petroulaki Foteini Zarokosta Antonia Tsirigoti Altin Hazizaj Enila Cenko Jelena Brkic-Smigoc Emir Vajzovic Vaska Stancheva Stefka Chincheva Marina Ajdukovic Miro Rajter Marija Raleva Liljana Trpcevska Maria Roth Imola Antal Veronika Ispanovic Natasha Hanak Zeynep Olmezoglu-Sofuoglu Ismail Umit-Bal Donata Bianchi Franziska Meinck Kevin Browne |
| author_sort | George Nikolaidis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Children’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood. Methods A three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school-attending children (response rate: 66.7%) in three grades (aged 11, 13 and 16 years) was drawn from schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Children completed the ICAST-C questionnaire, which measures children’s exposure to violence by any perpetrator. Results Exposure rates for psychological violence were between 64.6% (FYROM) and 83.2% (Greece) for lifetime and 59.62% (Serbia) and 70.0% (Greece) for past-year prevalence. Physical violence exposure varied between 50.6% (FYROM) and 76.3% (Greece) for lifetime and 42.5% (FYROM) and 51.0% (Bosnia) for past-year prevalence. Sexual violence figures were highest for lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (18.6%) and lowest in FYROM (7.6%). Lifetime contact sexual violence was highest in Bosnia (9.8%) and lowest in Romania (3.6%). Past-year sexual violence and contact sexual violence prevalence was lowest in Romania (5.0 and 2.1%) and highest in Bosnia (13.6 and 7.7% respectively). Self-reported neglect was highest for both past-year and lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (48.0 and 20.3%) and lowest in Romania (22.6 and 16.7%). Experiences of positive parental practices were reported by most participating children in all countries. Conclusions Where significant differences in violence exposure by sex were observed, males reported higher exposure to past-year and lifetime sexual violence and females higher exposure to neglect. Children in Balkan countries experience a high burden of violence victimization and national-level programming and child protection policy making is urgently needed to address this. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T18:33:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2c0e8072a0f345d1abe3c7adc0a0a982 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1753-2000 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T18:33:45Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-2c0e8072a0f345d1abe3c7adc0a0a9822022-12-22T03:21:00ZengBMCChild and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health1753-20002018-01-0112111510.1186/s13034-017-0208-xLifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN studyGeorge Nikolaidis0Kiki Petroulaki1Foteini Zarokosta2Antonia Tsirigoti3Altin Hazizaj4Enila Cenko5Jelena Brkic-Smigoc6Emir Vajzovic7Vaska Stancheva8Stefka Chincheva9Marina Ajdukovic10Miro Rajter11Marija Raleva12Liljana Trpcevska13Maria Roth14Imola Antal15Veronika Ispanovic16Natasha Hanak17Zeynep Olmezoglu-Sofuoglu18Ismail Umit-Bal19Donata Bianchi20Franziska Meinck21Kevin Browne22Department of Mental Health and Social Welfare, Centre for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Institute of Child HealthDepartment of Mental Health and Social Welfare, Centre for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Institute of Child HealthDepartment of Mental Health and Social Welfare, Centre for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Institute of Child HealthDepartment of Mental Health and Social Welfare, Centre for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Institute of Child HealthChildren’s Human Rights Centre of AlbaniaChildren’s Human Rights Centre of AlbaniaFaculty of Political Sciences, University of SarajevoFaculty of Political Sciences, University of SarajevoDepartment of Medical Social Sciences, South-West University “N. Rilski”Department of Medical Social Sciences, South-West University “N. Rilski”Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of ZagrebDepartment of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of ZagrebUniversity Clinic of Psychiatry, University of SkopjeUniversity Clinic of Psychiatry, University of SkopjeSocial Work Department, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babes-Bolyai UniversitySocial Work Department, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babes-Bolyai UniversityFaculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of BelgradeFaculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, University of BelgradeAssociation of Emergency Ambulance PhysiciansAssociation of Emergency Ambulance PhysiciansInstituto degli InnocentiCentre for Evidence-Based Interventions, University of OxfordCentre for Forensic and Family Psychology (Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology), School of Medicine, University of NottinghamAbstract Background Children’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood. Methods A three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school-attending children (response rate: 66.7%) in three grades (aged 11, 13 and 16 years) was drawn from schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Children completed the ICAST-C questionnaire, which measures children’s exposure to violence by any perpetrator. Results Exposure rates for psychological violence were between 64.6% (FYROM) and 83.2% (Greece) for lifetime and 59.62% (Serbia) and 70.0% (Greece) for past-year prevalence. Physical violence exposure varied between 50.6% (FYROM) and 76.3% (Greece) for lifetime and 42.5% (FYROM) and 51.0% (Bosnia) for past-year prevalence. Sexual violence figures were highest for lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (18.6%) and lowest in FYROM (7.6%). Lifetime contact sexual violence was highest in Bosnia (9.8%) and lowest in Romania (3.6%). Past-year sexual violence and contact sexual violence prevalence was lowest in Romania (5.0 and 2.1%) and highest in Bosnia (13.6 and 7.7% respectively). Self-reported neglect was highest for both past-year and lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (48.0 and 20.3%) and lowest in Romania (22.6 and 16.7%). Experiences of positive parental practices were reported by most participating children in all countries. Conclusions Where significant differences in violence exposure by sex were observed, males reported higher exposure to past-year and lifetime sexual violence and females higher exposure to neglect. Children in Balkan countries experience a high burden of violence victimization and national-level programming and child protection policy making is urgently needed to address this.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13034-017-0208-xViolence against childrenChild abuse and neglectChild maltreatmentViolenceEpidemiologyBalkans |
| spellingShingle | George Nikolaidis Kiki Petroulaki Foteini Zarokosta Antonia Tsirigoti Altin Hazizaj Enila Cenko Jelena Brkic-Smigoc Emir Vajzovic Vaska Stancheva Stefka Chincheva Marina Ajdukovic Miro Rajter Marija Raleva Liljana Trpcevska Maria Roth Imola Antal Veronika Ispanovic Natasha Hanak Zeynep Olmezoglu-Sofuoglu Ismail Umit-Bal Donata Bianchi Franziska Meinck Kevin Browne Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health Violence against children Child abuse and neglect Child maltreatment Violence Epidemiology Balkans |
| title | Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study |
| title_full | Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study |
| title_fullStr | Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study |
| title_short | Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study |
| title_sort | lifetime and past year prevalence of children s exposure to violence in 9 balkan countries the becan study |
| topic | Violence against children Child abuse and neglect Child maltreatment Violence Epidemiology Balkans |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13034-017-0208-x |
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