A Comparative Study of The Prevalence of Child Abuse In Highschools Based on Gender, Education and History of Divorce in The Family

The purpose of the present research is to study the prevalence of child abuse among highschool students in Tehran townships.A sample of 738 high school students (355 girls) were selected based on clu-stered and stratified sampling.A questionnaire for measuring phy-sical and emotional abuse and neglect was developed. The questionnaire was standardized in a pilot study. Data was analyzed using factor analysis and mu-ltivariate analysis of variance (MAN-OVA). Prevalence of physical abuse, emot-ional abuse, and neglect respectively were 17.5%, 49.46%, and 36.4%. The most prevalent type of physical abuse were slapping and kicking; for emot-ional abuse, shouting and insulting; and for negligence, lack of attention to the child’s interests, sicknesses and not taking the child to the doctor.Moreover, results showed that there are significant differences in prevale-nce of child abuse according to gender of students, grades, and divorce hist-ory in the family.Results indicated that prevalence of child abuse is not as high as western countries, however it is similar to other studies that have been conducted in Iran and indicates that we need fun-damental strategies for preventing chi-ld abuse