Citation

Lee H, Kim EK. Child Abuse Negl. 2022; 135: e105984.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105984

PMID

36538870

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With the onset of COVID-19, most countries issued lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus globally and child abuse was concerned under such a closed circumstance.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of physical and psychological child abuse during COVID-19 and moderating variables for those abuses.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The rates of child abuse reported in 10 studies encompassing 14,360 children were used, which were gathered through a systematic review.

METHODS: We reviewed previous studies systematically for the appropriate data and conducted a meta-analysis.

RESULTS: The prevalence of physical child abuse is estimated at 18 % and that of psychological abuse is estimated at 39 %. Regarding the unemployment rate, it reveals a high correlation with physical abuse (b = 0.09; p < 0.05) but not with psychological one (b = 0.03; no. sig).

CONCLUSIONS: To prevent child abuse during the pandemic, it is suggested to minimize COVID-19-related economic damage to families and explore factors for reducing the gap between low and high-income countries.

Language: en

Keywords

Systematic review; Meta-analysis; COVID-19; Physical child abuse; Psychological child abuse