Zeynep CETIN* and Miray OZOZEN DANACI**
*Assoc. Prof. Dr., Hacettepe University, Faculty of Healthy Sciences, Ankara
**Lecturer. Duzce University, Healthy Services Vocational School, Duzce
ABSTRACT
Problem Statement: Child abuse, defined by the World Health Organization as “intentional or unintentional behavior by adults, society, or a country with negative consequences for the health and physical development of the child,” is a social problem frequently encountered in all cultures and societies. It is need to this study because of parents in an important role about child abuse.
Purpose of the Study: There are many studies on child abuse, and this article aims to contribute to the efforts of preventing such abuse by focusing on parents’ abusive tendencies and examining the child abuse potential of parents using a number of variables.
Method: Parents with children ages birth to six who reside in the province of Duzce constitute the population of this study. The sample group of the study consists of a total of 158 parents with children ages 0 to 6 and residing in the city center of Duzce, 96 of them mothers and 62 fathers. The child-abuse potential of the parents is the dependent variable of the study, while socio-demographic characteristics of the families and the children are the independent variables. Data collection instruments of the study are the Parents and Children Demographic Characteristics Form developed by the researchers, and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) developed by Milner (1976) and adapted to Turkish by Omer & Sucuoglu (1994) with sufficient levels of reliability and validity.
Findings and Results: It was found that child abuse potentials of the parents varied significantly by the number of residents in the house, by the place of residence, and by the income of the parents. Another finding was that the child-abuse potential of parents did not vary by gender and age.
Conclusion and Recommendations: This study found that as the number of children increases, so does the child-abuse potential of parents. Therefore, in training and consultation sessions on family planning, the issue should also be discussed from the perspective of child abuse.
Keywords: Children, child abuse, mother, father.