@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 1027-1457    Scientific Journal of Forensic Medicine 2019;25(4):209-216

Background
Child abuse is a common crime and it is caused by multiple individual and environmental factors that are combined. It increases the likelihood of this type of social harm.
Previous Studies
… [1-3]. In 2017, the World Health Organization report on child abuse declared that one in four children has experienced physical violence, of whom 23% has experienced physical violence, such as beatings, 36% threats, humiliation, reprimand, emotional pressure, and 26% sexual exploitation. In terms of gender, 18% of the victims were girls and 8% boys, and most of them were domestic violence by acquaintances. Child abuse in Iran ranks first in domestic violence. Every day, 20-25 cases of child abuse are reported in the social emergency [4], while based on Arshad view [5] real numbers seem to be more than reported statistics because most families are reluctant to report child abuse, and women fear further abuse by their husbands after these reports. … [6-9].
Aim(s)
The aim of this study was to investigate the effective factors of child abuse within family.
Research type
This research was a qualitative study.
Research society, place and time
In this study, by analyzing the history of 12 reported cases, in addition to describing the sociological characteristics of the victims, the existence of effective factors on child abuse in each sample was evaluated.
Sampling method and number

Used devices&materials
In this qualitative study, a descriptive and library research was used to investigate the causes of child abuse. Also, a qualitative research method with in-depth interviewing with specialists and assistants in welfare was also conducted, however, in some cases, direct observation and taking biography of the victims were used. The research began after asking the question “in which families is child abuse more common? and then two school counseling psychologists and three welfare workers were asked to write a biography of the abused children and explain their analysis. A total of 12 biographies of the victims were collected and their information categorized. The sociological characteristics of the victims were also assessed and described for each sample.
Findings by Text
Using experts’ opinion and based on research background, important indicators of child abuse were coded in five categories, including poverty, unstable single-parent families, addiction, lack of self-care training in victim, and mental retardation in victim: 1- Poverty: 5 cases were found with poverty based on expert’s observation and according to the place of living of the child. 2- Unstable single-parent families: it was found in 8 cases. 3. Addiction: 6 cases were found with addiction. 4. Lack of self-case education: According to experts, in 5 cases, victims did not receive self-education. 5-Mental retardation: In 3 cases, victims were mentally retarded (Table 1).The gender of the criminals in 9 cases was male, and 11 cases was female. The age of the victims at the time of report was between 5 and 17 years, but victimization had been happened at the younger ages. The type of victimization in 7 cases was sexual abuse, in 3 cases was emotional abuse, and in 2 cases was physical abuse. Regarding the relationship between the criminal and victim, in 9 cases, the criminal was from the acquaintances, whereas in in 3 cases, was a stranger. In some cases, where the criminal was a close relative of the father or mother, no complaints were reported to police for the protection of family dignity and private secrets (Table 2).
Main comparison to the similar studies
In ecological theory, conditions, such as poverty and parental unemployment are closely linked to abuse and child abuse [10]. However, it is noteworthy that poverty is not a major cause of child abuse, but it is added to other factors and increases the risk of child abuse or neglecting. It has shown that [3, 11] most cases of child abuse occur on the suburbs because of the powerlessness of the poor people. … [12-18]. It has shown that children in Iran and worldwide had been more abused at home with relatives than strangers. Asadbigi reported that 86% of child abuse cases were involved by parents, of which in 60%, fathers and in 1.5%, strangers were involved. … [20, 21].
Suggestions
Self-care training and changing offensive structures with greater control and supervision can be effective in preventing child abuse and related injuries.
Limitations
Direct access to psychology or forensic files provides more details on the sociological characteristics and characteristics of the victimized children, but unfortunately there were numerous legal barriers to access, which are the limitations of this study.
Conclusions
Factors affecting child abuse include poverty, unstable and single parent families, addiction, lack of self-care education, and mental retardation and disability.
Acknowledgments
None declared.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Ethical Permissions
None declared.
Funding Sources
None declared.

TABLES and CHARTS

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