UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA (UITM REMBAU)

BACHELOR OF MASS COMMUNICATION (HONS.) BROADCASTING

LIB 420 SOCIOLOGY

GROUP ASSIGNMENT: RESEARCH REVIEW ON CHILD ABUSE

LECTURER:

MUHAMMAD FIRDAUS DAUD

NAME:

MAHATHIR PUTERA ABDUL RAZAK 2016354401

SARA NURUL FITRAH MOHAMMAD RADZI 2016701119

SYAMIN NA ILLAH BT. SHAMSUL AZHAR 2016712099

WAN HAZIQ IQBAL WAN KAMARULZAMAN 2016720939

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

27TH APRIL 2017

INTRODUCTION

Child abuse, also known as child maltreatment is to most, the act of physically abusing by

inflicting pain and injuring a child. There is a difficulty in precisely defining child abuse.

There is no universal meaning to it because it perceived differently by different culture and

value (Augustine Paul,1991). However, negligence is the most frequent type of child

maltreatment. Child neglect happens when parents or caretakers are unable to provide

sufficient physical and emotional support. Other than that, it also occurs when a childs basic

needs such as emotional support, food, shelter and protection are not met (Dubowitz et al.,

1993). More than 3.6 million children were subject to child protective services investigations

in 2009. An estimated 80% of these children were abused by a parent, which proves that

parents play a vital role in risk of child maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families [U.S. DHHS], 2010).

In Malaysia, the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) has been ratified since

1995. The CRC is a universally recognized organisation that commits to protecting the

welfare and providing education to the children in the nation ("UNICEF Malaysia - Child

rights - All Rights for All Children, Everywhere", 2017). Upon being a widespread

phenomenon in the late 80s after high profile cases were shown by the media, this prompted

the government to introduce the Child Protection Act in 1991 (Department of Women's

Affairs Malaysia, 1999). To take it up a notch, centres providing help to child abuse

alongside domestic violence and sexual assault victims were set up in government hospitals

around Malaysia in 1998. A hotline initiated by the government was launched in April 1998.

Since the launch of the Child Protection Act 1991, doctors were required to report any

suspected child abuse case to the authorities. The Child Protection Act 1991 was replaced

with by the Child Act 2001 to better deal with matters regarding the welfare of children

("Protective Measures and Remedies For The Weaker Partner in a Family and Child Abuse

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Cases: The Malaysian Perspective", 2011). However, according to the Welfare Department,

statistics show that the number of children in need of protection following abuse under

Section 17(1) (a) to (k) of the Child Act 2001 has increased from 3,257 cases in 2010 to

4,453 cases in 2015 (The Star, 2016).

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Child maltreatment can impact physically, psychologically, emotionally to the child whereas

it also impacts their social life in the society. These abuse is associated to short or long term

significances include brain damage, learning abilities, emotional disturbing, drug use, and

pregnancy not only effect the child but society as well (UNICEF, 2009). This research is to

review the prevalence of child abuse and neglect other than that to know the risk factors of

child abuse.

What is prevalence? It is referring to widespread in a particular area at a particular

time for example the percentage of Malaysian aged 16 and under are abused or neglected as a

child. Total of cases on prevalence of child abuse and neglect kept increasing each year from

1,149 to 3,257 in the year 1997 to 2010. There are about 6.8 percent students has been

reported to be abused (Irene & Choo, 2016). According to UNICEF (2009), in 2008 there are

952 children has experience neglect, 863 children were physically abused, 733 children were

sexually abused and 58 children were abandoned babies. Next, in 2012 there is an increase of

403 cases in child abuse compare to last year (The Star, 2013).

With the increase in cases of child abuse, it is high time the nation addresses this

issue. At first glance, it may seem like child abuse is when you mistreat or physically injure a

child. When a child goes to school with a battered face or bruises then that is suspected

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physical abuse but what about neglect and sexual abuse? Being exploited? How can you tell

if a child is missing emotional support? Among the cases that have contributed to the increase

of child abuse in the country, there are however a number of cases that were unreported

(Ahmad,2010). According to Bernama (2009), Dato Najib Razak has said that children are

societys national treasure. With that being said, society should protect the welfare of

children and prevent child abuse. Once we understand the risk factors of child abuse and how

big of a role society plays to combat child abuse, well begin to see the answer to the problem

on how to stop child abuse.

OBJECTIVE & METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this research was to analyse contents of published journals and literature on

child abuse. The main content objectives are to study the occurrence of child abuse in

Malaysia, to find out the risk factors & types of child maltreatment, and effective ways to

overcome this issue. This review is also to discuss the significance of the research findings on

child maltreatment. The modus operandi used to retrieve related articles for this review

through google scholar and databases such as Web of Science, SciDirect, Clinical Key and

Wiley. Articles searched were published from 2000 to 2016. Lists of reference from each

article were deliberated to distinguish other relevant works of literature. The full-text

containing adequate details to further support the relevance of the articles were reviewed and

summarized. Articles dated before the year 2000 were also included to give background

information on the development of child maltreatment and research conducted in Malaysia.

The articles were searched under keywords most frequently: Child abuse, child psychology

or child neglect OR sexual or violence against children or post traumatic from abuse

or violence AND Malaysia or Southeast Asia. The search through database engine

resulted in countless of useful articles and journals relating to the topic.

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FINDINGS

OCCURRENCE OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN MALAYSIA

There are comparatively few studies on child abuse occurrence in Malaysia. The earliest

study on childhood sexual abuse was in 1996. Sing and colleagues (1996) had administrated a

survey among 616 student nurses and medical assistant trainees at each representative school.

Study showed that students who reported have been sexually abused during childhood was at

6.8% of which 8.3% were females and 2.1% were males. In 38.1% of the cases reported that

sexual abuse had begun under the age of 10. Two thirds of them were repetitively abused and

one third experience abuse from the more than one maltreater. An estimated 71.4% of the

perpetrators were people close to the victims. A noticeable difference in cases between ethnic

groups were found where more Chinese had reported being sexually abused than Malay and

Indian. Nevertheless, it is not determined if this is a result of having more representation from

Chinese participants or having less amount of participants from other races. According to

Kamaruddin (2000), among several obstacles faced by the maltreated when reporting sexual

abuse such as societal discrimination against sexually abused victims, cultural taboos in

relation to losing ones dignity and humiliation. Even though the target sample of Singh et

als study might not completely reflect the population due to underrepresentation of races and

limit of non-random sampling, this study paved the starting of systematic deliberation on the

importance of the Children Abuse & Neglect (CAN) at the population level in Malaysia.

Following that, Choo and collegues (2011) had conducted a study to measure CAN

among students in school, national service camps and imprisoned youths. A cross-sectional

survey was handed among 1,870 16 year-old students attending 20 random urban and rural

secondary schools in year 2005, Selangor. A set of questions addressing four types of

victimisation including sexual, physical, emotional and neglect were administered for this

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survey. Amongst all, emotional and physical abuse were most prominent forms of child abuse

reported. The data collected from the survey shows that the range for reported lifetime abuse

stands at 13.5% to 72.3% for emotional abuse and 1.8% to 63.3% for physical maltreatment.

A notable proportion of adolescents (22%) have experienced or seen different types of abuse.

Interestingly, males reported more physical, emotional and sexual abuse as compared to

females. However, there was indifference between both genders reporting the most severe

form of sexual abuse such as penetration or intercourse (30%) which is in contrast with

western literature study research by Finkelhor et al in 2014 that suggests females have a

higher risk of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). Results from the study showed 26% in 17 year old

females experience sexual abuse against 5.1% in males (Finkelhor, 2014).

RISK FACTORS & TYPES OF CHILD ABUSE

According to Kasim et al in 1994, studies show that factors such as low social class, divorced

parents, disorder in personality and family disruption were closely linked with child physical

abuse. Another study showed the social demographic factors that lead to child sexual abuse

included unsupervised or absence of parents at home and history of substance abuse. Ahmad

et al (2010) in their interviews with survivors of incest learned that financial hardship that

forces families especially mothers to be at work for a long duration allowed children to be

unsupervised hence giving fathers the opportunity to sexual abuse them.

Even though there is still a lack in investigating risk factors of child abuse, recent

school-based study show that domestic violence however, has been closely associated with

child maltreatment (Ahmed, 2015). A primary factor of child neglect is having poor parent-

child relationship. According to Choo in 2011, Poor parental attachment or having little to no

bonding time between a child and parent can lead to maltreatment where a child feels like his

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or her needs are not being fulfilled. Interestingly, reported cases due to family structure

(single parent or step parent/s) and geographical location remained low in influencing child

abuse and neglect.

TYPES OF CHILD ABUSE

Physical abuse
According to Afridah in 2012, physically abusing a child means to have the intention to hurt

or injure a child. Examples of physical abuse including striking, kicking, hitting, strangling

until the child passes out or has physical damage like broken bones. Intracranial haemorrhage

is a condition where bleeding occurs in the cranium and is a cause of major morbidity and

mortality in child abuse. The first study in Malaysia on intracranial haemorrhage caused by

child abuse was published in 1994 (Cheah, 1994). 41 of the 369 cases treated in Hospital

Kuala Lumpur over a four year period for physical abuse had intracranial haemorrhage at

which 90% of those were 2 years old or less. Eight (20%) showed history of trauma but only

two with injury compatibility. Subdural haemorrhage took up 80% of overall cases with nine

cases of skull fractures. 29% of the 37 children of age 2 years or less had retinal haemorrhage

but no external signs of trauma.

Sexual abuse
According to Finkelhor in 1997, child sexual abuse (CSA) is defined as sexual acts made to a

child usually against their will. It can include rape, sodomy and molestation. CSA can happen

when a wide age gape different exists between partners or when the partner is a guardian/

caretaker to the child. A questionnaire was distributed to 616 paramedical students at a

nursing school in Ipoh. The age range of the respondents was 20 to 24 years of age where

76.6% (471) were females, 22.9% (141) were males a remaining 6% did not reveal gender.

84.1% of the respondents were Malay, 9.1% were Indian and 5.8% were Chinese. Out of all

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the respondents, 42 admitted to have been sexually abused in their childhood where 39 were

females and only three males.

69% of respondents reported physical contact during sexual abuse, 26.2% without

physical contact and 9.5% experienced sexual intercourse. Males reported experiencing

molestation while females report a wider range of abuse including exhibitionism to

intercourse. Only two cases of the respondents were involved in physical abuse. 59.5% (25)

reported to have repeat episodes of abuse. In that, 33.3% were abused by a number of

abusers. 71.4% of the abusers were people of their surroundings, 14.2% were siblings

(brothers), 24.5% were relatives and 24.5% of whom were family friends. Even though

majority of the cases (57.1%) were about to stop the sexual abuse, still, a notable (35.7%)

could not muster the feeling of being helpless to the situation. Out of all, none of the

respondents reported the abuse to a higher authority.

PREVENTION

It is important for the society to recognise child abuse, as it can be represented in various

ways. An abused or neglected child may primarily refer to health illness, behaviour problem,

psychological problem (depression, stress, anxiety), sexual abuse (assault), has been

abandoned or wandering alone without any guidance. These child need protections for a

brighter future. Prevention can be theorized to investing in future upshots by prompting

current behaviour or situations (UNICEF,2013). The word prevention means is to stop

something from happening. It may also be defined as activities that encourage a positive

behaviour. To ensure well-being of the children and families, both risk factors must reduce

and promote protective factors for successful child abuse, violence and neglect interventions.

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 Thus, a few programmes have been implemented for child protection and child

maltreatment. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development have several

programmes had been instituted to provide care and shelter for those who have been

neglected, abandoned or mistreated by their family (Irene & Choo, 2011). Social needs and

safety of the child is attend by the Child Protectors; emotional, psychological, physical health

of the child and psychodynamics of the family is look into by the health workers while police

and legal agencies focus on legal protection and prosecution of perpetrators. Following are

the sections on preventions strategies to either niche groups or aiming a much broader general

population.

Home visiting is the popular method to deliver services for families, as a strategy to

prevent child abuse and neglect. These programmes are increasingly popular and frequently

emphasises on early interventions to children in first three years as they are in great risk of

child abuse and neglect than older children. Malaysia has included maternal home visiting for

those who are antenatal period upon register with health clinics, four to six postpartum visit

whereas new-born check-up to first 30 days post-delivery (Irene & Choo, 2011). One to one

parent education and support are provided during home visits besides is being used this

method to assist hard to reach families, normally this condition is use where by parents are

unlikely to partake in grouping. Information, guidance and support are offered in these

programmes directly for the families to suit their home environment. Furthermore, this

program is focusing on the childs development while injecting their own development.

While child development is strongly believed that home visiting can be useful and profitable

approach to provide services for families and children. However, service providers have to

follow the authorized procedures by particular programmes if home visiting are having their

maximum impact. Few recommendations are helpful for procedure makers and program

organizer to design home visiting also education program for families and children; have

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clear goals and objectives, ensure both concentration and duration of visiting needed to build

relationship, be careful on recruit and training for home visitors, inject home visiting with

other programmes or services, and update for ongoing evaluation and development efforts.

The introduction of Child Act 2001 has brought drastic changes to protecting children

in Malaysia where the rights of a child achieved recognition by the government. The

beginning of the Act gave awareness to the society about the importance of children to a

community and because of the level of maturity, special care and protection should be given

to them. Under the Act, it is mandatory for caretakers, parents, siblings and doctors to report

child abuse. Still, there are no studies regarding how the nation will be impacted by

compulsory reporting of child abuse. A leg-up is to own epidemiological data available and

can be compiled by the Social Welfare Department. These cases could then be brought to the

attention of officers.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Unfortunately, there are no locally published research studying the public perception of child

neglect or abuse with a gap between that and the reality of the matter. No local studies have

yet been published focusing on how the society is impacted with emotional abuse alongside

other forms of child maltreatment. An increase in having local data from reported cases is a

valuable tool in studying the publics perception of child abuse (Dunne,2008). Hence, parents

will know the corporal punishment used might be classified has abuse or touching a child

inappropriately is considered sexual abuse. Even though the public assumption towards abuse

is mainly physical, negligence is just as serious.

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 To conclude, despite changes implemented by the government to help curb child

abuse and protection of a child, recent studies still show an increase in child abuse. The

problem cannot be solved with law and procedures alone. Society has to take more effort and

raise awareness towards knowing the seriousness of this problem that comes hand in hand

with detrimental effects to the society. A lot more can be done to halt this issue. Nationwide

awareness campaigns can be carried out and spread by mass-media to get the word out.

Teachers and doctors also play a big part in reporting suspected abuse of their

students/patients to help decrease the amount of unreported cases. Home visits should have a

consistency of home visitation to keep an eye on children who might be suffering in silence.

With effort from all parts of the nation, comes awareness to the nation to properly combat

this issue.

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