The fight against child abuse is far from over, especially in Canada. A new study paints a grim picture of the reality in a first-world country.
In a study [pdf] titled "Child abuse and mental disorders in Canada," a team of researchers led by Tracie Afifi found "robust associations" between child abuse and mental health.
Like in any country, cases of child abuse are no stranger in Canada, even recording 100,000 cases of child abuse in 2003.
In fact, in 1990, the Ontario Health Supplement revealed that 31 percent of males and 21 percent of females suffered from physical abuse when they were younger. At the turn of the millennium, the figures hadn't budged. Data from The Ontario Health Study a decade later showed a small kick in the number of Canadians who admitted were sexually abused when they were kids.
"Although the association between child abuse and subsequent mental conditions is well established, we know little about differential effects associated with several abuse types and specific mental disorders, and we currently have no nationally representative Canadian data," said Afifi.
The study focused on three types of child abuse namely physical abuse, sexual abuse and exposure to intimate partner violence. It also considered 14 mental conditions such as mental disorders, ideas on suicide and suicide attempts.
Data were collected from more than 23,000 Canadian respondents aged 15 years living in the 10 provinces of Canada, with 18 years and above interviewed about childhood abuse that occurred before the participants reached their 16th year. The over-all household-level response rate was 79.8 percent.
And what did they find out? The figures were to be expected, but they are still alarming.
Physical abuse, which was classified as either being slapped, pushed, grabbed or shoved, having something thrown at the respondents, or spanked with something hard more than once, recorded the highest prevalence rate with 26.1 percent and it was men who suffered most from this kind of abuse.
Women are meanwhile the prime victims of sexual abuse and are most exposed to witnessing intimate partner violence, posting 14.4 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively.
Sexual abuse was described as experiencing sexual attempts, forced sexual activity with threats, grabbing, kissing or fondling against the respondent's will at least once, while exposure to intimate partner violence was classified as "having seen or heard parents, step-parents or guardians hitting each other or another adult in the home 3 or more times."
"The strongest findings were for drug abuse/ dependence, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts, with all three types of child abuse remaining significantly associated with these outcomes in the most adjusted models," Afifi said.
Among the 10 provinces that were included in the study, Manitoba ranked the highest in terms of child abuse prevalence with 40 percent, followed by British Columbia with 35.8 percent and Alberta with 36.1 percent.
"From a public health standpoint, these findings highlight the urgent need to make prevention of child abuse a priority in Canada," Afifi concluded in the study. "Success in preventing child abuse could lead to reductions in the prevalence of mental disorders."
