Fisiese, seksuele en emosionele kindermishandeling en- verwaarlosing : 'n argiefstudie

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study was to identify, describe and explain the differences between boysand girls regarding the different variables of child abuse and neglect.A review of the literature concerning child abuse and neglect was undertaken. Emphasiswas placed on the different variables that correlate with child abuse and neglect: gender,age, type of abuse, general wellbeing and type of injuries, social relationships andcircumstances, economical circumstances and the different variables that are related tothe perpetrator of child abuse and neglect.Archive material of 256 children (124 boys and 132 girls) from Tygerbear Children'sHospital, at Tygerberg Hospital, were researched. All the subjects were eighteen years oryounger and reported at the Hospital between 01 April 2004 and 31 March 2005.Comprehensive reports drawn up by social workers were used to capture data from whichthe different variables and statistics of child abuse and neglect were identified, descnbedand explained.Findings from the data indicate that sexual abuse was the most common form of abusefor the whole group of subjects. Boys are neglected more often than girls and theyexperienced more physical injuries than girls. Girls, on the other hand, are more prone tosexual abuse and experience more injuries of a sexual nature, while in total the wholegroup presented with injuries of a more sexual nature than any other type of injury. Thefindings also indicate that boys are abused or neglected more often in the eveningscompared to girls who are abused or neglected more often during the mornings, but forthe whole group, abuse takes place more often during the afternoon. Mothers tend toabuse or neglect boys more often than girls, while fathers do not usually abuse onegender more than the other. Boys compared to girls are more often abused by perpetratorsbetween the ages of 13 and 21, but for both genders in total the perp~trators of abuse arebetween 22 and 34 years of age. Further analysis of the type of abuse and age of theperpetrator indicated that the perpetrators of sexual abuse against boys, was significantlydifferent from the age of the perpetrators of the other types of abuse and neglect againstboys. Most of the cases of child abuse and neglect happened at home and it was the girlswho reported the offences to the police more often than the boys. The last findingindicated that the fathers and the mothers of the whole group abused alcohol significantlymore often than any other substance. And that the fathers of boys who are abused orneglected, are significantly more likely to abuse alcohol than the fathers of girls who areabused or neglected.This study is mainly descriptive, while some of the findings were explained. A number ofthe reports were not fully completed, but were still included in the study to develop anunderstanding of the amount of information regarding child abuse and neglect that werenot available. To improve the quality of future research on child abuse and neglect,especially in the Western Cape, efforts should be made by organizations to capture dataof child abuse and neglect more carefully and completely.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University