Citation

Kim S. Child Indic. Res. 2022; 15(1): 67-86.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12187-021-09859-4

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Violence against children is a severe threat to children's development and wellbeing. Once children are victimized, they are more likely to be at risk of further victimization. Therefore, a preventive and proactive approach to violence against children is required. Social capital is negatively associated with children's victimization, but inefficient attention has been paid to social capital that could reduce the risk of the onset of victimization. Thus, this study investigates whether social capital could decrease the risk of the onset of victimization. The responses of 2844 4th-grade children (46.4% female child) from the Korean Youth Panel Survey were used to explore a hypothesized model. Parents, teachers, and neighbors were used as sources of social capital. Victimized children were defined as children who have experienced at least one of the five subtypes of victimization: severe threats, being bullied, severe assault (beaten up), sexual harassment or violence, and property-related victimization. A series of discrete-time event history analyses were utilized using Mplus 7.4. The findings revealed that the largest percentage of children reported experiencing victimization for the first time at age 10 (4th grade) during the given time frame. Although social capital that accrued from neighbors showed no significant influence on the onset of victimization against children, social capital from parents and teachers significantly reduced the risk of the first-time victimization. This finding could contribute to practical evidence that claims the necessity of building an environment abundant with social capital to protect children from victimization.

Language: en

Keywords

Discrete-time event history analysis; Korean children; Onset of victimization; Social capital