Table 1.
Studies reporting the prevalence of child abuse in Asia
| Author | Country | Participants | No. of participants | Definition | Sexual (%) | Physical (%) | Emotional (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | |||||||
| Isaranurug et al. [16] | Thailand | Primary school students | 212 | Violence by biological parents | – | 76.7 | 95.0 |
| Back et al. [5] | Singapore | Female university students | 88 | Child abuse before age 18 | 15.9 | 62.5 | – |
| Lau et al. [19] | Hong Kong | Secondary school students | 3,355 | 1. Corporal punishment | – | 4.9 | – |
| 2. Beaten by parents for no reason | 2.0 | ||||||
| 3. Beaten by family members | 1.1 | ||||||
| 4. Any of the above (all within the past 3 months) | 6.6 | ||||||
| Tang [38] | Hong Kong | College students | 2,147 | Various forms of sexual abuse before age 17 | 6.2 | – | – |
| Tang [37] | Hong Kong | Parents of children at or under 16 years of age | 1,019 | 1. Minor violence | – | 52.6 | – |
| 2. Severe violence | 46.1 | ||||||
| Patel et al. [28] | India | Higher secondary school students | 811 | Coercive sex in the past 12 months | 6 | – | – |
| Singh et al. [35] | Malaysia | Paramedical students | 616 | Contact and non-contact sexual abuse before 18 | 6.8 | – | – |
| Western (community studies only) | |||||||
| Edwards et al. [13] | US | Community (age 19–97) | 8,667 | Multi-category abuse before age 18 | 21.6 | 20.6 | 29.4 |
| Briere and Elliott [7] | US | General population (age 18–90) | 935 | Abuse before age 18 | 23.4 | 20.9 | – |
| MacMillan et al. [22] | Canada | General population (age ≥15) | 9,953 | Abuse when “growing up” | 8.9 (unwanted) | 25.7 | – |
| Mullen et al. [24] | New Zealand | Community women (age ≥18) | 497 | Emotional and physical abuse in childhood | 10.7 (unwanted) | 7.8 | 11.5 |
| Sexual abuse before age 16 | |||||||
| Baker and Duncan [6] | England | General population (age ≥15) | 2,019 | Abuse before age 16 | 10.0 | – | – |