Six in 10 Hong Kong children physically punished by parents, shock report reveals
Lead researcher 'shocked' at extent of abuse in city
PUBLISHED : Friday, 09 May, 2014, 3:02pm
UPDATED : Friday, 09 May, 2014, 3:39pm
Shirley Zhao [email protected]
A report by Hong Kong’s Catholic organisation Caritas Youth and Community Service has highlighted the extent of child abuse in Hong Kong. Photo: EPA
Six in 10 youngsters in Hong Kong said they had been physically punished by their parents in the last 12 months, with 15 per cent claiming they had suffered violent beatings, according to a shocking new study.
Researchers interviewed 542 children aged eight to 13, along with 461 of their mothers and 517 of their fathers.
Sixty-three per cent of children said they had been subjected to some kind of physical assault in the 12 months prior to the interview, including punishments for misbehaviour such as slapped palms, arms or buttocks.
Of the children interviewed a third said they had been “physically maltreated” – receiving more serious punishments such as being hit with a belt or a stick.
And fifteen per cent of children interviewed said they had been “severely maltreated”, with some citing constant and violent beatings.
The research was commissioned by Hong Kong’s Catholic organisation Caritas Youth and Community Service and was carried out between September last year and early this year. The subjects were chosen from six primary schools with connections to Caritas.
Dr Sylvia Kwok Lai Yuk-ching, lead researcher and applied social studies professor at the City University of Hong Kong, who was at the launch of the report, said: “I was shocked by the results. I didn’t expect that the percentage of children reporting abuse would be so high.”
In addition to the physical side, six in 10 children said they had been subjected to psychological abuse such as yelling or being called names such as “stupid” or “slob”.
When asked about punishments they administered to their children a higher percentage of parents admitted using physical violence, although they tended to believe the punishment was less severe than their children reported.
Kwok said the use of violent measures by parents could be related to increasing pressure in society or parents’ high expectations for their children.
She said parents may think it normal to use physical punishment when it comes to disciplining children and may not believe that using hard objects to beat children is abusive.
Alternatively, “some parents may not know how to control their emotions and frustrations under stress and they vent it through their children”, said Kwok.
Fung Hing-kau, social work supervisor of the Caritas Youth and Community Service, said abused children tend to be more physically aggressive and have problems with attention and in their social lives.
He said more social workers are needed to provide in-school counselling, citing a statistic that half of primary schools in the city have no social worker.
“Nowadays school work has become more and heavier and many pupils have encountered difficulties and failure in study. If they are not encouraged by their parents but abused instead, they’ll suffer from serious psychological problems,” said Fung.
