Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Child Abuse Negl. 2012 Jan;36(1):64-70. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.05.007. Epub 2011 Dec 22.
The existence of child abuse is unfortunately a reality of contemporary society. Although various organizations and researchers have been making progress in the struggle against abuse, it has not been decisively dealt with thus far. Most of the research on abuse has focused on the abuse of children in their family environment.
The aim of the present study was the investigation of abuse in the school environment and the effects of the gender and school grade of pupils, as well as the gender of teachers on the various forms of abuse.
The study utilized a questionnaire with a 5-point rating scale, with questions concerning physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect, which was completed in class by a sample of schoolchildren. The sample consisted of 1,339 pupils in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade of primary school in the Republic of Cyprus, who lived in both urban and rural areas. Two pilot studies were conducted initially to ensure the appropriateness of the questionnaire. Permission to conduct the study was gained by the headmasters of the schools, and authorization to participate in the study was granted by the students' parents.
More than half (52.9%) of the pupils reported neglect, almost a third (33.1%) reported emotional abuse, and almost one tenth (9.6%) reported physical abuse. The results of the statistical analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the 2 genders (p<.001), with boys being the most vulnerable group, with regards to all forms of abuse, but no significant differences between the 3 grades and the teachers' gender (p>.05). There were no significant differences between the 2 genders, the 3 grades and the teachers' gender with regards to the frequency of any form of abuse (p>.05).
The gender of the pupils seems to be related to abuse, since more boys than girls reported being victims of abuse, while abuse is not depended on the school grade, or the teacher's gender. The findings from this study may justify some concern on behalf of the Ministry of Education, but also from educators and parents in the Republic of Cyprus.
虐待儿童的存在是当代社会的不幸现实。尽管各种组织和研究人员在打击虐待行为方面取得了进展，但迄今为止尚未得到果断处理。大多数关于虐待的研究都集中在家庭环境中对儿童的虐待上。
本研究旨在调查学校环境中的虐待行为，以及学生的性别和年级以及教师的性别对各种形式的虐待的影响。
本研究使用了一份 5 点评分量表的问卷，对来自塞浦路斯共和国的 4 至 6 年级的小学生进行了身体虐待、情感虐待和忽视的问卷调查。该样本由居住在城市和农村地区的 1339 名小学生组成。最初进行了两项试点研究，以确保问卷的适当性。学校校长获得了进行研究的许可，学生家长也同意学生参与研究。
超过一半（52.9%）的学生报告了忽视，近三分之一（33.1%）报告了情感虐待，近十分之一（9.6%）报告了身体虐待。统计分析的结果显示，在所有形式的虐待中，男孩与女孩之间存在统计学上的显著差异（p<.001），但在 3 个年级和教师性别之间没有显著差异（p>.05）。在任何形式的虐待频率方面，男孩与女孩、3 个年级和教师性别之间均无显著差异（p>.05）。
学生的性别似乎与虐待有关，因为报告遭受虐待的男孩多于女孩，而虐待与学生的年级或教师的性别无关。本研究的结果可能会引起塞浦路斯教育部、教育工作者和家长的一些关注。
