Article Text
Abstract
Introduction This study provides, for the first time, comparable national population-based estimates that describe the nature and magnitude of physical and emotional violence during childhood in Zimbabwe.
Methods From August to September 2011, we conducted a national population-based survey of 2410 respondents aged 13–24 years, using a two-stage cluster sampling. Regression models were adjusted for relevant demographics to estimate the ORs for associations between violence, risk factors and various health-related outcomes.
Results Respondents aged 18–24 years report a lifetime prevalence (before the age of 18) of 63.9% (among girls) to 76% (among boys) for physical violence by a parent or adult relative, 12.6% (girls) to 26.4% (boys) for humiliation in front of others, and 17.3% (girls) to 17.5% (boys) for feeling unwanted. Almost 50% of either sex aged 13–17 years experienced physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey. Significant risk factors for experiencing physical violence for girls are ever experiencing emotional abuse prior to age 13, adult illness in the home, socioeconomic status and age. Boys’ risk factors include peer relationships and socioeconomic status, while caring teachers and trusted community members are protective factors. Risk factors for emotional abuse vary, including family relationships, teacher and school-level variables, socioeconomic status, and community trust and security. Emotional abuse is associated with increased suicide attempts for both boys and girls, among other health outcomes.
Conclusion Physical and emotional violence often work in tandem causing poor mental and physical health outcomes. Understanding risk factors for violence within the peer or family context is essential for improved violence prevention.
- cross-sectional survey
- community-based survey
- public health
- prevention strategies
- child health
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Handling editor Seye Abimbola
Contributors HC and TEM contributed to the design of the study and conducted and oversaw the survey. HC, DF, TEM and AE contributed to the development of the data analysis plan and analysed data. DF wrote the manuscript. TEM, HC and AE reviewed the data, and MCM, NI, LB-R, TEM, HC and AE reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript.
Funding Unicef.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Not required.
Ethics approval The ethical protocol, which was aligned with relevant national legislation and policy, was approved by the CDC Institutional Review Board, the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe, and later by the Attorney-General in Zimbabwe.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement The full NBSLEA results are available at http://www.zimstat.co.zw/sites/default/files/img/publications/Culture/NBSLEA.pdf. Selected results from the secondary analysis are also available as a preprint at https://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/FINAL_NBSLEA_highres.pdf.