Attitudes towards Child Abuse among Iranian Teenagers

The aim of the present study was to investigate youth attitudes towards child abuse and their associate variables in Iran. The main focus was on their definition of child abuse, most common abuse types they suffered from and what they think can help to reduce it. A sample of the teenager population from Tehran (n=214), Kerman (n=51), Shiraz (n=19), Tabriz (n=14) and other cities (n=61) participated in the study. Data was analyzed via content analysis, descriptive statistics, Chi square and Independent t-test in SPSS 17. The results showed that the definition of child abuse (in order of intensity) is 1. sexual abuse, 2. physical punishment, 3. scurrility, 4. blaming, 5. inattention, 6. frightening, 7. threatening and 8. economical exploitation. The four most common punishments from their point of views were 1. blaming, 2. physical punishment, 3. scurrility, and 4. sexual abuse. The most intense punishment they received as children was inattention and the most common ones were blaming and scurrility. Considering the results of this study, there must be an urgent clarification of child abuse definition specifically the role of the victim along with a well organized policy in promoting parental education in terms of effective parenting. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the 2nd World Conference on Psychology, Counselling and Guidance.