Johanna Hietamäki
The National Institute for Health and Welfare
Johanna Hietamäki is working as a senior researcher in the unit of Children, Adolescents and Families. Her field of study includes child abuse, social work, assessment, child welfare and child protection studies and evaluation research.
Objective In this research, the purpose is to research how parent’s self-reported concern to abuse their children is associated with child, parent and family characteristics and the use of early education. Studies have... [ view full abstract ]
Objective
In this research, the purpose is to research how parent’s self-reported concern to abuse their children is associated with child, parent and family characteristics and the use of early education. Studies have identified many risk factors for child abuse related to the child, parent and family characteristics. Earlier studies have shown that child’s characteristics such as disabilities, illnesses and behavioral characteristics increase the risk of the child becoming a victim of parental violence. Family/parental factors are related substance use, family conflicts, health problems, history of child abuse, stress and unemployment. Furthermore we can see the differences between the mothers and fathers reporting the child abuse.
Methods
The research is carried out in ten municipalities. The data consists of 615 responses from the one-year-old child’s mothers and fathers. The topics of questionnaire are related to the child (e.g. gender, health, development, temperament), parent/caregiver (socio-demographic, health, welfare, immigration) and childcare arrangements. Measuring the self-reported concern to abuse a child is measured with three questions (losing control, hatred feelings and physical punishment). Data analysis methods will be linear regression analysis.
Results and conclusions
The parents have reported their concerns to abuse their children when they have responded to the survey. The results will give information about the parent’s self-reported concern for child abuse and child, parent and family characteristics associated with self-reported concern for child abuse.
