The optimus study South Africa: A national study of child victimization

Introduction: South Africa reputedly has a high rate of child maltreatment, including sexual victimization, but no national figures are available. This presentation will report data from the first nationally representative... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction: South Africa reputedly has a high rate of child maltreatment, including sexual victimization, but no national figures are available. This presentation will report data from the first nationally representative study of child victimization.

Objectives: (1) To obtain nationally representative data for child sexual victimization, child physical abuse, child psychological abuse, and child neglect in South Africa; (2) To investigate correlates of child maltreatment in this context.

Methods: The 2011 Census enumeration areas were used as the sampling frame: with weighting to ensure that enumerator areas including 15-17-year-olds were more likely to be chosen, a random sample of enumerator areas was targeted for data collection. In each enumerator area, door-to-door random sampling was used to approach 15-17-year-olds, who were invited to participate if a caregiver gave consent; 5-10 young people per enumerator area were interviewed. In addition, a school that served that enumerator area was also approached, and if the principal gave consent and parents did not refuse consent, 30 randomly selected learners in the age group 15-17 were interviewed. Young people were also given the opportunity to complete a short self-report questionnaire. The Juvenile Victimisation Questionnaire was used to assess young people’s lifetime and last-year experiences of sexual victimization. Correlates of maltreatment that were explored included: sleeping density; poverty; presence of biological parents in the home; parent-child relationship; caregiver psychiatric hospitalization; caregiver absence; parental substance misuse; and the young person’s disability status, substance misuse, trauma symptoms, educational problems, and sexual risk behavior.

Results: In total, 9899 young people were interviewed. Lifetime and last-year prevalence data will be presented for the full national sample, for each form of maltreatment investigated. Relationships between each form of maltreatment and the potential correlates will also be presented. Implications for provision of prevention and treatment services will be discussed.