Child victimization in China: Prevalence and risk factors

Child victimization accompanied by injury has imposed a heavy demand on health services in China. However, efforts to recognize it as a public health problem have been hampered by the absence of reliable estimates of the prevalence of the different types of victimization. The objective of the population surveys is to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of child victimization, with specific emphasis on child sexual abuse. A multistage stratified sampling procedure was adopted to identify eligible participants from Hong Kong and180 communes in 5 cities in mainland China. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 8,945 Chinese parents of children younger than 18 years of age. A total of 3 321 children and 18 341 students, aged 15-17 years, were successfully interviewed. The lifetime prevalence rates of child sexual victimization and child victimization, as reported by household parents, were 1.3% and 35.2% respectively. The lifetime prevalence rates of child sexual victimization and child victimization, as reported by household children and school students were 3.1% to 8% and 50.1% to 71.7%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those reported by parents. The findings provide reliable estimates of child victimization which will facilitate the allocation of resources. The associations between child victimization and family violence highlight the value of screening for multiple types of violence when one type has been detected.