Prevalence of child psychological, physical, emotional, and ritualistic abuse among high school students in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.

Based on self-reports the prevalence during childhood of psychological, physical, emotional, and ritualistic abuse among 559 high school students in Standards 7, 8, 9, and 10 of three high schools in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa was examined. The questionnaire asked for the demographic information and experiences of psychological, physical, and emotional abuse by their parents or adult caretakers as well as ritualistic abusive experiences before they were 17 years of age plus an estimate of self-perceived abuse during childhood and an overall rating of their own childhood. Analysis showed the self-reported prevalence rates to be as follows: 70.7% psychologically abused (but 14.4% for extreme cases), 27.0% physically abused, 35.3% emotionally abused, and 10.0% ritualistically abused. 13.4% of those who reported themselves as psychologically abused, 20.7% of the physically abused, 19.3% of the emotionally abused, and 35.8% of the ritualistically abused perceive themselves as not abused in any form during childhood. Yet, of the psychologically abused 23.4%, of the physically abused 18.2%, of the emotionally abused 22.0%, and of the ritualistically abused 28.3% rated their childhood as 'very unhappy'. It appears these various forms of abuse are experienced by the participants as widespread, suggesting that a much more serious problem may exist than has been recognised. More research into those forms of child abuse in this Province and elsewhere is needed for a clear appreciation of the problems and the effects of such abuse in children's behavior.