Prevalence of child abuse and social anxiety among battered children in minority and remote areas of Guangxi

Objective To explore the prevalence of child abuse(CA) and the situation of social anxiety among battered children in minority and remote areas of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region(Guangxi),and to provide evidences for child abuse prevention and intervention.Methods Using multi-stage cluster random sampling method,5 390 children were selected from primary and middle schools in minority and remote areas of Guangxi and surveyed with Screening Questionnaire for Child Abuse(SQCA) and Social Anxiety Scale for Children(SASC).Results Of all the children surveyed,2 128(39.48%) reported suffering from family abuse during the previous one year.The reported rate of suffering from verbal insult,economic control,sword or stick wounding,neglect,beat and kick,isolation,biting,slapping,and sexual abuse were 30.80%,29.98%,19.70%,13.88%,13.08%,10.93%,10.89%,and 3.64%,respectively,with a statistically significant difference in the reported rate of the CA incident(χ²=2501.57,P=0.000).The prevalence of social anxiety in the battered children was higher than that in the unbattered children and a higher prevalence of social anxiety was observed among battered girls and rural children compared to among battered boys and urban children.Conclusion The incidence of CA in minority and remote areas of Guangxi is high and the situation of social anxiety is severe among the battered children in the areas, especially for battered girls and rural children.