School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Emergency Medicine Unit, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Feb 5;18(4):1501. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041501.
: Children are widely recognized as a vulnerable population during disasters and emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic, like a natural disaster, brought uncertainties and instability to the economic development of the society and social distancing, which might lead to child maltreatment. This study aims to investigate whether job loss, income reduction and parenting affect child maltreatment. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of 600 randomly sampled parents aged 18 years or older who had and lived with a child under 10 years old in Hong Kong between 29 May to 16 June 2020. Participants were recruited from a random list of mobile phone numbers of a panel of parents. Of 779 recruited target parents, 600 parents completed the survey successfully via a web-based system after obtaining their online consent for participating in the survey. : Income reduction was found significantly associated with severe (OR = 3.29, 95% CI = 1.06, 10.25) and very severe physical assaults (OR = 7.69, 95% CI = 2.24, 26.41) towards children. Job loss or large income reduction were also significantly associated with severe (OR= 3.68, 95% CI = 1.33, 10.19) and very severe physical assaults (OR = 4.05, 95% CI = 1.17, 14.08) towards children. However, income reduction (OR = 0.29, 95% CI = 0.15, 0.53) and job loss (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.28, 0.76) were significantly associated with less psychological aggression. Exposure to intimate partner violence between parents is a very strong and significant factor associated with all types of child maltreatment. Having higher levels of difficulty in discussing COVID-19 with children was significantly associated with more corporal punishment (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.05, 1.34), whereas having higher level of confidence in managing preventive COVID-19 behaviors with children was negatively associated with corporal punishment (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.76, 0.99) and very severe physical assaults (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.58, 0.93). : Income instability such as income reduction and job loss amplified the risk of severe and very severe child physical assaults but protected children from psychological aggression. Also, confidence in teaching COVID-19 and managing preventive COVID-19 behaviors with children was significantly negatively associated with corporal punishment during pandemic.
儿童在灾害和紧急情况下被广泛认为是弱势群体。与自然灾害一样，COVID-19 大流行给社会的经济发展带来了不确定性和不稳定性，社会隔离可能导致儿童虐待。本研究旨在探讨失业、收入减少和育儿是否会导致儿童虐待。
我们对 2020 年 5 月 29 日至 6 月 16 日期间，在香港随机抽取的 600 名年龄在 18 岁及以上、有 10 岁以下子女且与子女同住的父母进行了横断面在线调查。参与者是从父母小组的随机电话号码列表中招募的。在招募的 779 名目标父母中，有 600 名父母成功完成了基于网络的调查，他们在获得参与调查的在线同意后，通过网络系统完成了调查。
研究发现，收入减少与严重（OR=3.29，95%CI=1.06，10.25）和非常严重的身体攻击（OR=7.69，95%CI=2.24，26.41）显著相关。失业或收入大幅减少也与严重（OR=3.68，95%CI=1.33，10.19）和非常严重的身体攻击（OR=4.05，95%CI=1.17，14.08）显著相关。然而，收入减少（OR=0.29，95%CI=0.15，0.53）和失业（OR=0.47，95%CI=0.28，0.76）与较少的心理攻击显著相关。父母之间的亲密伴侣暴力暴露是与所有类型儿童虐待都非常强且显著相关的因素。在与子女讨论 COVID-19 方面遇到更高水平的困难与体罚显著相关（OR=1.19，95%CI=1.05，1.34），而对与子女管理预防 COVID-19 行为有更高水平的信心与体罚呈负相关（OR=0.87，95%CI=0.76，0.99）和非常严重的身体攻击（OR=0.74，95%CI=0.58，0.93）。
收入不稳定，如收入减少和失业，增加了严重和非常严重儿童身体攻击的风险，但保护儿童免受心理攻击。此外，在大流行期间，与儿童教授 COVID-19 和管理预防 COVID-19 行为相关的信心与体罚呈显著负相关。
