Factors associated with physical violence against children in Haiti: a national population-based cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Considering the recent sociopolitical and environmental stress in Haiti, from the COVID pandemic to repeated natural disasters, we aimed to identify risk and protective factors associated with childhood physical violence (CPV) after the 2010 earthquake. A population-based national survey was administered to 13–24-year-old Haitians in 2012. A three-stage clustered sample design was utilized. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and risk ratios (aRR). 64% of survey respondents experienced CPV were estimated. Respondents who reported emotional and/or sexual abuse prior to age 12 were twice as likely to be victims of physical violence later during childhood (emotional aRR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3–2.7; sexual aRR 2.1, 95% CI 1.4–3.1). Feeling close or very close to one’s mother was protective (aPR 0.66, 95% CI 0.47–0.92). This study is the first to describe risk and protective factors and also delineate temporality of exposures associated with CPV.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17457300.2021.1996398.

Keywords:

• Physical violence
• children
• child abuse
• epidemiology
• Haiti

Acknowledgements

The content, findings and conclusions in this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views or position of the National Institutes of Health or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors would like to formally acknowledge the Institut Haitien de Statistique et d’Informatique (IHSI), the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED), the Multi-Sectoral Task Force (Comite de Coordination, CC) of Haiti, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for their support and assistance in study design and execution. They would also like to acknowledge Qian Qui for her assistance in data analysis.

Author’s contributions

KF and FR collaborated in study conceptualization and design, development of the data analysis plan, and interpretation of the findings. KT drafted the manuscript and FR critically reviewed and edited the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors give their final approval of the version to be published and agree to be accountable for the work completed.

Disclosure statement

We declare no competing interests.

Ethics committee approval

The study protocol and survey were approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED) Institutional Review Boards. They were also approved by the Haiti Ministry of Public Health and Population National Ethics Committee.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the US Government through the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), and independent funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32-HD057822) supported the author, KF, during the preparation of this manuscript. Study sponsors had no role in study design or in data collection, analysis, or interpretation.