虐兒行為成因及對兒童成長的影響 - 調查研究報告

The Department of Applied Social Studies of the City University of Hong Kong and Caritas Youth and Community Service have jointly conducted a survey on factors of Child Abuse and its impact on Child Development in 2013. A survey for a total of 542 children in primary 4 to 6 and their parents from 6 primary schools, was conducted from September to December 2013. The results are astonishing, as they showed that physical punishment is common among Hong Kong families. 62.5% of the children responded in the survey that they have been physically punished in the past year, whereas 31.1% of the respondents commented that the punishment they received reached the level of “serious body persecution”. The research indicated that children who have been physically punished are having worse relationships with their parents than children who have not been physically punished. This group of children is shown to have less trust on their parents, and is less able to effectively communicate in their families. In addition, they are found to have encountered difficulties in social life, have problems in concentrating on work and are prone to violate rules and engage in violence.
The aim of this research is to probe into the problem of child abuse in Hong Kong, from the perspective of family life and children, by conducting a survey with collected questionnaires. The main objectives of this investigation include: (1) to find out how common the problem of child abuse is among Hong Kong families; (2) to investigate the resilience and crisis factors of child abuse;(3) to describe the general situation in Hong Kong families on parent-child relationships; (4) to investigate the relationship between personal and family backgrounds and the resilience and crisis factors of child abuse; and (5) to investigate the relationship between personal and family backgrounds and means of disciplining children.