Physical, sexual and emotional abuse during childhood: Experiences of a sample of Sri Lankan young adults

Abstract

Abuse during childhood is a human tragedy leading to lifelong adverse health, social, and economic consequences for survivors. This descriptive, cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of childhood physical, sexual and emotional abusive experiences among students (aged 18-19 years) in a Sri Lankan district. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select a sample of 1500 students. Experiences of physical, sexual and emotional abuse and age at abuse, perpetrators, consequences and severity were assessed using a version of ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool-Retrospective Version (ICAST-R) which was culturally adapted and validated by the authors for use amongst Sinhalese students. The prevalence of the various forms of abuse during childhood was as follows: physical: 45.4% (95% CI: 42.9-7.9); sexual: 9.1% (95% CI: 7.6-10.5); emotional: 27.9% (95% CI: 25.7-30.2). The corresponding percentages of individuals categorized as having experienced severe or very severe abuse were as follows, physical: 0.3% (2/672); sexual: 4.05% (3/135); emotional: 8.8% (36/412). Experience of physical abuse was more prevalent amongst male students (54.8% vs. 38.3%) as was emotional abuse (33.9% vs. 23.2%), whereas experience of sexual abuse was more prevalent amongst female students (11.5% vs. 6.4%). Parents and teachers were the commonest perpetrators of physical and emotional abuse. Most of the sexually abusive acts were committed by neighbors or strangers. Some physically abusive acts were more frequent at earlier ages than emotional and sexual abusive acts, which were more common in late adolescence. The results indicate the necessity of targeted interventions to address this public health issue.