Child abuse: A study on a Yemeni sample
MENA Dubai 2003 Abstract
Author Anisa Dokam
Copy Studies point out to the relationship between parents' pattern of behaviors and its effect on children's well-being especially their psychological health. The way of treating children by fathers and the mothers is considered one of the important marks which we must study to explain the disturbed behavior of the children, and in the view of the fact that a number of children becoming a subject to the abuse from one of the parents or both of them. Children are subjected to different forms of abuse: physical, emotional or neglect. Sometimes this abuse is not intentional, as claimed most of the time by parents but its effect is very negative on the psychological health of the children.

In fact that, and by investigating the common styles of raising children in our societies, one can never ignore that children are subjected to different forms of abuse. This is may be explained in to lack of awareness to the negative psychological effects that is caused abuse. This study is an attempt to investigate the dimensions of this phenomenon on a Yemeni sample. The study aims to answer the following questions: What are the most common forms of abuse that prevail in a Yemeni Society, are there statistical differences between males and females children subjected to abuse by the mother, are there statistical differences between males and females children subjected to abuse of the father, are there statistical differences between males and females children in perceiving abuse of the mother, are there statistical differences between males and females children in perceiving the abuse of the father.

The study depends on descriptive methodology. The study sample consists of 220 boys and girls who study in one of the six classes of the primary school (46% female and 54% male). They were randomly selected from schools representing different geographical and social locations in Taiz City.

Results revealed that the most common five forms of abuse prevailed from the side of the mothers are: beating threatening to be beaten, arousing the fear from the mothers, beating by the stick, cursing and using names of animals in calling the child. The most common five forms of abuse used by the fathers are: arousing the fear from the father, beating, threatening to be beaten, neglecting their sickness and using the stick, the results showed that there are not statistical differences between males and females in how much they become subjected to abuse from the mother and in all forms of abuse. Whereas there are statistical differences between males and females in how much they become abused by the father and in all forms of abuse. All these differences show that the boys are abused more than the girls and they perceive it more.