A Study on Knowledge and Prevalence of Sexual Harassment and Abuse Among Schoolboys in Colombo District
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A study on knowledge and prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse among schoolboys in Colombo District A S A Abeywardene 1, S H Atukorale 1, K K D C C Abeynayaka 1, Thamara Athauda 2 Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health , 2004; 33 : 9-17 (Key words: Knowledge, prevalence, sexual harassment, sexual abuse, schoolboys) Abstract Introduction Objectives To determine knowledge of sexual Child abuse is maltreatment of a child by physical harassment and abuse among schoolboys aged 14 to abuse, nutritional neglect, sexual abuse, intentional 19 years, assess prevalence, frequency and severity of drugging, neglect of medical care, emotional abuse, various types of sexual harassment and abuse, assess and child labour 1. frequency of reporting incidents of sexual harassment and abuse to a trustworthy person, determine reasons In the past decade there has been increased global for non-reporting and determine characteristics awareness of child sexual abuse and harassment. In specific to sexually abused schoolboys. 1997 a Presidential task force was set up on child abuse and the National Child Protection Authority Design A descriptive cross sectional study (NCPA) instituted in 1998. NCPA has probed many incidents of sexual abuse highlighting them via the Method Data was collected from 242 schoolboys media, so that public knowledge and awareness was aged 14-19 years from 2 Colombo district schools increased 2. using a pre-tested and self-administered questionnaire. Child sexual abuse is defined as “The involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully Results Among the 242 students surveyed, 3.7% had comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, knowledge on sexual harassment and 31% had or for which child is not developmentally prepared knowledge on sexual abuse. 190 (78.5%) students and cannot give consent, or that violate laws or social had experienced sexual harassment and 53 (21.9%) taboos of society. Child sexual abuse is evidenced by had experienced sexual abuse. Commonest type of an activity between a child and an adult or another sexual abuse was oral sex with a prevalence of 9.5%. child who by age or development is in a relationship 10.7% students had been subjected to penetrative sex. of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being Commonest reason for not reporting an incident of intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other sexual harassment and sexual abuse was fear. person. This may include but is not limited to Prevalence of sexual abuse was highest in the lower inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any social class. Mother working abroad, being separated unlawful sexual activity; exploitative use of a child in from both mother and father, not having any reliable prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; friends were possible risk factors for being subjected exploitative use of children in pornographic to sexual abuse. performances and materials” 3. Conclusions Prevalence of sexual abuse in Sexual harassment is defined as “Sexual advances, schoolboys exceeds global figures. Prevalence of requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or sexual harassment is on par with global figures. physical conduct of a sexual nature when submission Knowledge on sexual harassment was extremely low to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly and on sexual abuse relatively low. a term or condition of an individual’s employment, ___________________________________________ education, living environment, or participation in a 1Medical Student, Faculty of Medicine, University of University activity or such conduct has the purpose Colombo, 2Senior Lecturer, Department of or effect of unreasonably interfering with an Community Medicine, University of Colombo . individual’s employment or educational performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive, or (Received on 3 November 2003) abusive environment for that individual’s employment, education, living environment, or participation in a University activity” 4. Although worldwide, girls have a higher prevalence number of classes from each stratum randomly selected. of sexual abuse, according to studies in Sri Lanka, Some grades had extra classes. To ensure that every 21% boys were abused as against 11% girls 1. This student had an equal probability of being included in may be because girls are more protected than boys as sample, half the number of classes were selected from virginity is traditionally considered important. each year of study. All students of selected classes were Furthermore, hormonally primed boys have access included in study. To ensure reliability and validity, only to boys who are less well protected 1. study sample was targeted at 200. After considering number of students in the 2 schools and our sampling There are many physical effects of sexual abuse in method, we included 42 additional participants. Of the 242 students, 196 were from type 1AB and 46 from type children. Studies show that the risk of contracting 1C graded schools. sexually transmitted diseases is higher in abused children 5. Nearly 50% of HIV infected people in the 6 We had to do survey during school hours with minimal world are under 25 years of age raising the interference to academic activities. Thus we planned to possibility that there could be a large number of abused collect more data in a limited time. As information HIV infected children. Other physical sequelae include obtained from students is highly personal, we used a abrasions, lacerations, anal redness, usually found self-administered questionnaire to collect data. shortly after abuse has taken place but often absent later, 5,7 Questionnaire was prepared in English and translated to when compared with girls . Sinhalese. It comprised general information, knowledge on sexual harassment and abuse, 11 questions on Psychological effects include post-traumatic stress identified acts of sexual harassment and 5 questions on syndrome, depression, anxiety personality disorders, identified acts of sexual abuse. paranoia, poor self image, bulimia etc. Other effects of sexual abuse include sexual dysfunction, confused The Study sexual identity, hypersexuality, substance abuse, decreased school performance and legal problems. Study was carried out in the 2 schools on 6th and 9th Previously abused boys re-impact the abuse by abusing May 2003 during the interval. Students of selected other children or become future child sex abusers 5 classes assembled in the main halls of the 2 schools. themselves . Emotional problems are commoner in Seating arrangements were made so that there were two males than females; males are known to externalize their 8 seats in between each student. The research was emotions while females internalize them at most times . explained through public address system and instructions given. At the end, question papers were Objectives collected in a ballot box type of container. Ethical clearance for study was granted by the ethical review To determine knowledge of sexual harassment and panel of Faculty of Medicine. abuse among schoolboys aged 14-19 years, assess prevalence, frequency and severity of various types of Results sexual harassment and abuse, assess frequency of reporting incidents of sexual harassment and abuse to a Distribution according to age is shown in table 1 trustworthy person, determine reasons for non-reporting and determine characteristics specific to sexually abused Table 1 schoolboys. Distribution by Age Method Age in years Frequency (%) A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in 2 14 23 (09.5) schools in Colombo district. Study population consisted 15 100 (41,3) of schoolboys aged 14-19 from years 10-13. Students 16 51 (21.1) from year 10 upwards were selected because they were 17 15 (06.2) able to understand and answer our questionnaire better. 18 24 (09.9) 19 03 (01.2) Stratified sampling was used. First the grading used by No Age Given 26 (10.7) the Department of Education for Colombo district boys’ schools was identified. Type 1AB and Type 1C schools Total 242 (100.0) were chosen as they had classes from years 1-13 and a student population aged 14-19 years. One each was Mean age was 15.65 (SD 1.19) years randomly selected from schools with types 1AB and 1C grading. In the 2 schools, each year of study (10, 11, 12, Distribution according to details of mother is shown in 13) was considered as a separate stratum and half the table 2. Table 2 Table 5 Distribution according to details about mother Distribution according to father's occupation Details about the mother Frequency (%) Father’s occupation Frequency (%) Living with mother 217 (89.7) No occupation 15 (06.20) Not living with mother but she Lower social class occupation 76 (31.40) is living in the country 14 (05.8) Middle social class occupation 123 (50.83) Mother is abroad 11 (04.6) Upper social class occupation 28 (11.57) Mother is not alive 00 (0.00) Total 242 (100.00) Total 242 (100.00) Distribution according to father's alcohol consumption is Distribution according to mother’s occupation is shown shown in table 6. in table 3. Table 6 Distribution according to father’s alcohol Table 3 consumption Distribution according to mother’s occupation Father’s alcohol consumption Frequency (%) Mothers occupation Frequency (%) Did not respond to the question 04 (01.7) No occupation 125 (51.7) Does not consume alcohol 138 (57.0) Lower social class occupation 79 (32.6) He consumes alcohol but it is Middle social class occupation 35 (14.5) not a problem to our family 86 (35.5) Upper