Children’s Knowledge and Skills Related to Self-Protection from Sexual Abuse in Central Java Indonesia

ABSTRACT

The research aimed at assessing Muhammadiyah Elementary Schools’ children’s knowledge and skill in protecting themselves from CSA by analyzing them based on gender. It applied a quantitative method with descriptive statistical and inferential analysis designs. The samples amounted to 301 fifth-grade students from 10 Muhammadiyah Elementary Schools in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. They were asked to complete the questionnaires of the “What If” Situation Test (WIST-III), adapted to an Indonesian context. When testing comprehension of touching situations, it was found that less than half of the respondents could identify appropriate touching situations (42%, M = 1.99, SD = ±1.04). There was a significant difference in the appropriate touching situation between males (M = 2.26, SD = ±1.9) and females (M = 1.76, SD = ±1.09). However, the ability to tell someone about the sexual abuse incident was very low, and a significant difference was found between females (p = .029, M = 1.7, SD = ± 2.3) and males (p = .029, M = 1.55, SD = ± 2.11). Only two per cent of the children achieved the maximum skills score. A CSA preventive program must be focused on building and developing children with regards to the skills to protect themselves from CSA by referring to cultural and Islamic values.

KEYWORDS:

• child sexual abuse
• self-protection skills
• knowledge

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dr. Wurtele for her help in using children’s assessment tool WIST-III as well as the directors, teachers, and children who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. The ethical clearance commission from Faculty of Psychology of Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta approved the study. Every subject completed an informed consent procedure.

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by a grant from the LPDP BUDI DN Scholarship [20161141081915] to Murfiah Dewi Wulandari, Principal Investigator

Notes on contributors

Murfiah Dewi Wulandari

Murfiah Dewi Wulandari, MPsi.Psi. is a doctoral candidate in the Education Psychology at Universitas Negeri Malang and Lecturer at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta.

Fattah Hanurawan

Fattah Hanurawan, M.Si., M.Ed, is a professor in the Education Psychology at Universitas Negeri Malang.

Tutut Chusniyah

Tutut Chusniyah, M.Si, is an assistant professor in the Education Psychology at Universitas Negeri Malang.

Sudjiono

Sudjiono, M.Si, is an assistant professor in the Education Psychology at Universitas Negeri Malang.