Topic > Lack of knowledge on child sexual abuse prevention in China

CSA in China Child maltreatment has been a common social phenomenon throughout China with a long history. Traditionally, Filia piety (xiao) has guided Chinese family ethical values ​​in China for thousands of years, whereby children are taught the importance of respect and obedience towards their parents. With a strong influence of Confucianism, Chinese believe that family reputation is always more important than individuals (Minli, Alvin, Amelia, Jun, & Kaishan, 2011). And derived from sexual conservatism, any type of sexual problem is considered a “family shame” and meant to keep secrets within the family (Chen, Dunne, & Han, 2007). From a legal perspective, the Chinese government and politicians have shown little interest and effort in developing legal protection of child maltreatment since child maltreatment was identified as a social problem in the early 1990s. Unfortunately, child maltreatment continues to be considered a private family affair beyond public attention (Minli, Alvin, Amelia, Jun, & Kaishan). As a result, even child sexual abuse (CSA) as one of the forms of child maltreatment is not recognized as such a serious problem as Western countries are concerned about. There are two main reasons why official data on the prevalence of confirmed cases of child abuse are underestimated; the first is that the Chinese government does not collect data consistently; the other, the Chinese tradition of sexual conservatism and the perception that “the familiar face (reputation) is more vital than individual perception” (Yuk-chung, Gladys, & Wan-Chaw, 2010) discourages children from speaking openly about issues sexual relationships with their family members, and family members feel ashamed to tell anyone else about their CSA experiences (Zhang et al., 2013). Statistics and Factors Actually,… half of paper… sed study on childhood sexual contact in China: Prevalence and long-term consequences. Child abuse and neglect: The International Journal, 32(7), 721-731. Minli, L., Alvin Shiulain, L., Amelia C., R., Jun Sung, H., & Kaishan, J. (2011) . Child maltreatment in China: An ecological review of the literature. Review of Children and Young People's Services, 331709-1719. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2011.04.031Yuk-chung, C., Gladys L.T., L., & Wan-Chaw, S. (2010). Children's perspectives on child abuse and neglect: Findings from an exploratory study with Chinese children in Hong Kong. Child abuse and neglect, 35162-172. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2010.12.001Zhang, W., Chen, J., Feng, Y., Li, J., Zhao, X., & Luo, X. (2013). Young children's knowledge and skills related to sexual abuse prevention: A pilot study in Beijing, China. Child Abuse and Neglect, 37(9), 623-630. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.04.018