SOCIOCULTURAL BASES OF CHILD ABUSE

Abstract

This study was on sociocultural bases of child abuse. Three objectives were raised which included; To ascertain the influence of Customs of parents on child abuse, to ascertain the influence of Religious Beliefs of parent on child abuse and to ascertain the influence of level of education on parents on child abuse. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from Selected Residents of Katsina, Katsina state. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

One of the most celebrated things in the world of mankind is marriage which has as one of its functions, reproduction. It is the wish and prayers of each and every spouse, their family and well-wishers to have the priceless gift of God to human kind, children. Having children is a thing of joy especially in African (Daily Trust, 2009). But despite the much celebration and thanksgiving for giving birth to a child, the children are abused in such a manner that one wonders if the abusers do not know the value of chidren. To this end, Gil (2006) defines child abuse as “the intentional, non-accidental act of omission on the part of parents or other caretakers, aimed at hurting, injuring or destroying that child”.

The greatest dream of almost every society in the contemporary world is to equip children for a healthy future so that they can be useful members of the society. This explains the reason why the international community is so much concerned about the issue of protecting children’s rights

(Onipe, 2004). An aspect of violence against human kind that has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years is the issue of child abuse. This practice does not only refer to the sparking and other physical punishments typically meted out to children by their parents. It means much more serious acts, such as subjecting children to vicious beating sometimes severe enough to break their bones, tying them up or locking them for hours or burning them with cigarettes or forcing them to put their hands on a hot stove, cutting their bodies with blade, using pepper on their sexual organs and even in extreme cases, killing them (Dietrich, 1983).

There are various forms of abuse meted on children. Neglect occurs when someone does not provide the necessities of life to a child, either intentionally or with reckless disregard for the child’s well-being such as withholding food, clothing, shelter, or other necessities, inadequate health care, education, supervision, protection from hazards in the environment. Physical abuse involves non-accidental harming of a child such as beating, shaking, burning, and biting and rib fractures. Psychological abuse includes verbal abuse, humiliation, and acts that scare or terrorize a child, which may result in future psychological illness of the child. Sexual abuse is the deliberate exposure of a minor to sex or sexual activities that the child cannot comprehend or consent to such as exposure to sexually explicit materials, inappropriate touching of a child’s breasts or genitalia, someone exposing their genitalia to a child, oral-genital contact, genitalto-genital contact, genital-to-anal contact and genital fondling as well as exhibitionism, voyeurism, and exposure to pornography (Gonzalez & McCall, 2018).

Statement of the problem

Child abuse may lead to many negative impacts on children’s development (Mills & McCarroll, 2012). Child Welfare Information Gateway (2013) reported that effects vary depending on the circumstances of the abuse or neglect, personal characteristics of the child, and the child’s environment. Minor physical abuse consequences include; bruises or cuts while broken bones, hemorrhage and death are the severe consequences. Psychological abuse often called emotional abuse is a form of abuse, characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another person to behavior that may result in psychological trauma. Its immediate consequences include; isolation, fear and inability to trust which transcend to lifelong consequences such as self-esteem, depression, relationship difficulty. The authors further stated that difficulty during adolescence, juvenile delinquent and adult criminality, alcohol and other drug abuse, abusive behaviour are behavioural consequence of child abuse. Oseni, Lawani and Oyedeji (2016) opined that child sexual abuse has adverse effects that can lead to severe consequences like sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, school dropout, mental illness and death. Also, Olatosi, Ogordi, Oredugba and Sote (2019) asserted that physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect were majorly identified as bruises behind the ears, oral warts and poor self-esteem respectively. Based on this the researcher wants to investigate the sociocultural bases of child abuse

Objective of the study

The objectives of the study are;

1. To ascertain the influence of Customs of parents on child abuse
2. To ascertain the influence of Religious Beliefs of parent on child abuse
3. To ascertain the influence of level of education on parents on child abuse

Research hypotheses

The research hypotheses were formulated;

Ho₁: there is no influence of Customs of parents on child abuse.

Ho₂: there is no influence of Religious Beliefs of parent on child abuse

Significance of the study

The findings of the study will be useful to a number of people such as parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, law makers, researchers and psychologist in various ways. Specifically, parents, guardians and caregivers will now be able to know the type of work to give to children and where to draw the line while training them. It will be significant to parents as it will arm them with knowledge about the dangers of child abuse and neglect and the impact of sociocultural compulsions on the general well-being of their children. The study will also be significant to teachers, Lawmakers, researchers, psychologist and many more as they will find it useful in monitoring the forms of child abuse and neglect. The curriculum planners will find it useful in that it will help them see the need to include the teaching of children’s rights in the curriculum while reviewing the curriculum. If the rights are included in the curriculum children will be favoured and know when their rights have been violated. The findings of the study will serve as reference materials to other researchers, trained professionals like psychologists, early childhood experts to monitor the influence of socio-economic status on the incidence of child abuse and neglect. Finally, it will also supply relevant data that will help reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the society

Scope and limitation of the study

The scope of the study covers Sociocultural bases of child abuse. The study limited to the people of katsina, Katsina State

Limitations/constraints are inevitable in carrying out a research work of this nature. However, in the course of this research, the following constraints were encountered thus:

1. Non-availability of enough resources (finance): A work of this nature is very tasking financially, money had to be spent at various stages of the research such resources which may aid proper carrying out of the study were not adequately available.

Time factor: The time used in carrying out the research work is relatively not enough to bring the best information out of it. However, I hope that the little that is contained in this study will go a long way in solving many greater problems.

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