Prevalence, risk factors and outcome of childhood abuse reported by female university students in jeddah.

Child abuse constitutes all forms of physical and /or emotional ill treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child's health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence, types, main predictors and outcome of child abuse, retrospectively reported by female university students in Jeddah. A cross sectional study was conducted and the Standardized Arabic Version of Child Abuse Screening Tool for Young Adult (18-24 years old) was used. Ethical standards of confidentiality and freedom to participate were followed. Multistage stratified random sample was used with selection of 1,897 females. About two-thirds (68.3 %) of students reported exposure to some form of child abuse. Physical and emotional forms were recalled by 45.1 % & 50.6 % of students, respectively, while, 2.9 % reported exposure to forced contact sexual assault. Parents and siblings were the commonest perpetrators of both physical & emotional abuse, while other relatives and extra-familial persons were the main offenders of sexual violence. The predictors of exposure to three forms of abuse together were: existence of parent who hit the other (aOR= 2.54; 95 % CI: 1.88-3.42), non-university graduated mother (aOR =1.83; p </= 0.001), parents' psychiatric problems (p</= 0.01), and parents who don't live together. The main outcomes of exposure to physical abuse were poor educational performance (aOR = 4.26; 95 % C.I.: 1.7-10.5), becoming suicidal prone (aOR =2.68; p</= 0.01), feeling pain of unknown cause, fearing of other sex and obtaining violent behavior. Conclusion and Recommended:Child abuse represents a public health problem, and there is a strong influence of familial risk factors in its occurrence. Programs for prevention of child abuse and for treating and rehabilitating victims are urgently needed.