TY - JOUR PY - 2010// TI - Prevalence of Childhood Physical Abuse in a Representative Sample of College Students in Samsun, Turkey JO - Journal of interpersonal violence A1 - Turla, Ahmet A1 - Dündar, Cihad A1 - Ozkanli, Caglar SP - 1298 EP - 1308 VL - 25 IS - 7 N2 - The main objective of this article is to obtain the prevalence of childhood physical abuse experiences in college students. This cross-sectional study was performed on a gender-stratified random sample of 988 participants studying at Ondokuz Mayis University, with self-reported anonymous questionnaires. It included questions on physical abuse in childhood, on whom and why the violence was inflicted, and on the reactions exhibited. Of the 988 participants, 527 (53.3%) had a history of childhood physical abuse (64.0% in men and 41.6% in women). The prevalence of being subject to physical violence was 1.5 times higher in men. Mothers more frequently inflicted violence on daughters and fathers on sons. According to participants, most frequent reasons for physical violence were "loss of perpetrator's self-control" and "establishment of discipline at home." The most frequent statement observed among the participants was humiliation after subjection to physical violence. It is concluded that the first (and the most) important preventive measure is to protect and strengthen the social, economic, and judicial status of the Turkish family. Second, it should by all means be prevented that violence remains legal in some social conditions like child abuse.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0886-2605 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0886260509340551 ID - ref1 ER -