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Whipped Worthless - UNICEF Study Shows That Poor, Rural And Inner-City Boys Subjected To Violent Physical, Verbal Abuse
Published: Sunday | May 4, 201412 Comments
Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer
At least 85 per cent of children in rural and inner-city communities across Jamaica have reportedly been subjected to physical abuse by adults in the name of discipline.
The majority of these children are boys, who are often battered by parents and other adults. Even babies between two and four years old are not spared.
"To be boy, poor and living in rural Jamaica is a guarantee to be violently punished," declared Kenneth Russell, education specialist at the United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF) office in Jamaica.
"And there are lots of similarities between the way children are punished in rural Jamaica and in inner cities."
Russell was expanding on the findings of a UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in Jamaica and several other countries.
The data shows that 84.5 per cent of children ages 2-14 years experienced some form of violent discipline, which included both psychological aggression and physical punishment.
Made public at the start of May, which is celebrated as Child Month, the study also shows that more than 84 per cent of the babies between two and four years old have been subjected to some form of physical discipline, with 78 per cent of them subjected to violent discipline.
POOR MOST VULNERABLE
While the practice is prevalent across all income brackets, children from poorer households were more likely to have experienced some form of violent discipline - 90.1 per cent of children in the poorest quintile, compared to 75.9 per cent in the richest quintile.
The study also found that while only 27 per cent of mothers/caretakers said they believe that children need to be physically punished, the percentage of children who were subjected to physical punishment more than doubled this rate (68.4 per cent).
This perception was more prevalent in the poorest households.
The study also found that the vast majority of respondents considered physical abuse as any action that results in wounding or obvious signs of physical harm to a child.
This was the position of 87 per cent of the sample, but 10 per cent defined it as an action that encompasses beating, pinching and any form of corporal punishment.
VICIOUS CYCLEFor registrar of the Office of the Children's Registry (OCR), Greg Smith, child abuse is a vicious cycle.
"Neglect, physical and emotional abuse are the most common reports we receive. Neglect takes many forms. Leaving children unattended, telling them expletives, and calling them demeaning names are part of the cycle," said Smith.
"Sometimes the abused and abusers are ignorant, because for many parents and children, physical or emotional abuse is expected because it's part of the culture. So brutalising a child, a boy, for example, may not be considered abuse because that was how the parents were raised and that is how they raise their children," added Smith.
He said the OCR has received several invitations to give talks for Child Month and it was hoped that more effective public education would help with behaviour change.
The Jamaican study, which was conducted in 2011, involved more than 6,000 participants and was done as part of UNICEF's efforts to influence policies and effect behaviour change.
A second study, which UNICEF dubbed the Knowledge Attitudes and Practices, regarding child maltreatment in Jamaica, provided more evidence of the brutality to which the children are subjected.
That study, conducted last year, showed that 30 per cent of children interviewed were beaten with belts, sticks, brooms or iron pipes.
Just under 30 per cent of the children said they were beaten until bruised or cut. Sixteen per cent said they were beaten by an adult; and 12 per cent said they were beaten without cause.
UNICEF's findings support an informal study conducted by The Sunday Gleaner in one Corporate Area inner-city community, where the verbal or physical assault of young children was observed in almost all households.
VERBAL ABUSE
In one instance, a young mother used a derogatory term for a female sex organ as she scolded her two-year-old son. That was followed by a box to the face of the baby as the mother shouted at him: "You is a fing fool 'cause yuh bawl, bawl like gal."
In another instance, a relative screamed at a 16-month-old child and declared: "A gwine bruk yuh fing finger dem 'cause you love come inna mi place and move mi tings."
Interactions such as these were not surprising to Russell, who argued that Jamaican parents need to be exposed to different methods of disciplining their children.
"We want to help parents to use other forms of punishment, because only 10 per cent of those interviewed said they used non-violent punishment. We want that to be much broader," said Russell.
He noted that 28 per cent of parents believed children should be beaten, while a vast majority said they beat their children because they do not know any other form of punishment.
Baseline Survey: Knowledge, Attitude & Practices Regarding Child Maltreatment in JamaicaYouth's interpretation of physical abuse
Nine per cent of respondents said they did not know what was physical abuse of a child.
Throughout Child Month, The Gleaner and UNICEF are taking you inside the lives and challenges of children who are struggling with abuse and exploitation. The facts and their stories are hard to forget. They demand our attention and action as a nation. They call on us to learn more and do more - to better understand the realities and to unite around the solutions. All children, everywhere across our island, deserve that.
Talk about the Child Month series online:
2)
When Words Hurt - Children Facing Almost Daily Verbal Assault In Some Communities
Published: Sunday | May 4, 20141 Comment
St Ann children march against child abuse. - File
It is almost commonplace for children in inner-city communities to be verbally abused by adults and there is no regard for when and where that abuse takes place.
A recent United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) study has found that shouting without the use of expletives is the most common form of verbal abuse reported.
However, the study, dubbed 'Baseline Survey: Knowledge, Attitude & Practices Regarding Child Maltreatment in Jamaica', found that 27 per cent of the children reported experiences with shouting with the use of expletives.
In addition, 40 per cent of children reported being called derogatory names by parents and caregivers.
Evidence of abuse
Strong support for the data came during a recent visit by a Sunday Gleaner team to one of Jamaica's tough inner-city communities, where the verbal assault on the children was on display.
In one instance, the interaction between a mother and her 11-year-old son captured the attention of our news team. "U likkle dutty (expletives deleted) yuh. Look from how long mi send you out. But no, you an yuh (expletives deleted) fren dem deh a road. You gwine go a prison like yuh (expletives deleted) daddy," the mother screamed.
Her son and two of his friends were playing in the driveway of a public facility during this tirade. The friends stopped playing to look at the young boy as his mother cursed.
He ignored the screaming woman as he turned to his friends.
"A so she love chat. Wait till mi fada come from prison. A gwine tell him mek him box har inna har (expletive deleted) face."
The boy continued to play with the small tennis ball he had while his mother hollered, "Weh de hair when mi sen yuh fah"?
With the boy ignoring the mother, who sported a bleached face with a half-done false hairstyle and a wrinkled belly exposed by the skimpiness of her clothes, he walked away with a string of expletives.
In the UNICEF study, 35 per cent of respondent regarded emotional abuse as the use of language that will cause pain or hurt to a child's emotions or self-esteem, such as shouting and name-calling.
Thirty per cent 30 per cent defined emotional abuse as actions that destroy a child's self-esteem while 29 per cent described it as negative interaction with a child, and 22 per cent said it is using degrading words/language to a child.
Interpretation of Emotional Abuse - UNICEF study
Some persons gave more than one response
Published: Sunday | May 4, 201412 Comments
Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer
At least 85 per cent of children in rural and inner-city communities across Jamaica have reportedly been subjected to physical abuse by adults in the name of discipline.
The majority of these children are boys, who are often battered by parents and other adults. Even babies between two and four years old are not spared.
"To be boy, poor and living in rural Jamaica is a guarantee to be violently punished," declared Kenneth Russell, education specialist at the United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF) office in Jamaica.
"And there are lots of similarities between the way children are punished in rural Jamaica and in inner cities."
Russell was expanding on the findings of a UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in Jamaica and several other countries.
The data shows that 84.5 per cent of children ages 2-14 years experienced some form of violent discipline, which included both psychological aggression and physical punishment.
Made public at the start of May, which is celebrated as Child Month, the study also shows that more than 84 per cent of the babies between two and four years old have been subjected to some form of physical discipline, with 78 per cent of them subjected to violent discipline.
POOR MOST VULNERABLE
While the practice is prevalent across all income brackets, children from poorer households were more likely to have experienced some form of violent discipline - 90.1 per cent of children in the poorest quintile, compared to 75.9 per cent in the richest quintile.
The study also found that while only 27 per cent of mothers/caretakers said they believe that children need to be physically punished, the percentage of children who were subjected to physical punishment more than doubled this rate (68.4 per cent).
This perception was more prevalent in the poorest households.
The study also found that the vast majority of respondents considered physical abuse as any action that results in wounding or obvious signs of physical harm to a child.
This was the position of 87 per cent of the sample, but 10 per cent defined it as an action that encompasses beating, pinching and any form of corporal punishment.
VICIOUS CYCLEFor registrar of the Office of the Children's Registry (OCR), Greg Smith, child abuse is a vicious cycle.
"Neglect, physical and emotional abuse are the most common reports we receive. Neglect takes many forms. Leaving children unattended, telling them expletives, and calling them demeaning names are part of the cycle," said Smith.
"Sometimes the abused and abusers are ignorant, because for many parents and children, physical or emotional abuse is expected because it's part of the culture. So brutalising a child, a boy, for example, may not be considered abuse because that was how the parents were raised and that is how they raise their children," added Smith.
He said the OCR has received several invitations to give talks for Child Month and it was hoped that more effective public education would help with behaviour change.
The Jamaican study, which was conducted in 2011, involved more than 6,000 participants and was done as part of UNICEF's efforts to influence policies and effect behaviour change.
A second study, which UNICEF dubbed the Knowledge Attitudes and Practices, regarding child maltreatment in Jamaica, provided more evidence of the brutality to which the children are subjected.
That study, conducted last year, showed that 30 per cent of children interviewed were beaten with belts, sticks, brooms or iron pipes.
Just under 30 per cent of the children said they were beaten until bruised or cut. Sixteen per cent said they were beaten by an adult; and 12 per cent said they were beaten without cause.
UNICEF's findings support an informal study conducted by The Sunday Gleaner in one Corporate Area inner-city community, where the verbal or physical assault of young children was observed in almost all households.
VERBAL ABUSE
In one instance, a young mother used a derogatory term for a female sex organ as she scolded her two-year-old son. That was followed by a box to the face of the baby as the mother shouted at him: "You is a fing fool 'cause yuh bawl, bawl like gal."
In another instance, a relative screamed at a 16-month-old child and declared: "A gwine bruk yuh fing finger dem 'cause you love come inna mi place and move mi tings."
Interactions such as these were not surprising to Russell, who argued that Jamaican parents need to be exposed to different methods of disciplining their children.
"We want to help parents to use other forms of punishment, because only 10 per cent of those interviewed said they used non-violent punishment. We want that to be much broader," said Russell.
He noted that 28 per cent of parents believed children should be beaten, while a vast majority said they beat their children because they do not know any other form of punishment.
Baseline Survey: Knowledge, Attitude & Practices Regarding Child Maltreatment in JamaicaYouth's interpretation of physical abuse
- Being beaten with an object (stick, belt, iron pipe, broom, stone) 30%
- Being beaten until bruised or cut 28%
- Being hit by an adult 16%
- Being hit without a just cause 12%
- Being boxed, kicked, thumped, pinched, slapped 7%
Nine per cent of respondents said they did not know what was physical abuse of a child.
- Gleaner-UNICEF Collaboration for Child Month
Throughout Child Month, The Gleaner and UNICEF are taking you inside the lives and challenges of children who are struggling with abuse and exploitation. The facts and their stories are hard to forget. They demand our attention and action as a nation. They call on us to learn more and do more - to better understand the realities and to unite around the solutions. All children, everywhere across our island, deserve that.
Talk about the Child Month series online:
2)
When Words Hurt - Children Facing Almost Daily Verbal Assault In Some Communities
Published: Sunday | May 4, 20141 Comment
St Ann children march against child abuse. - File
It is almost commonplace for children in inner-city communities to be verbally abused by adults and there is no regard for when and where that abuse takes place.
A recent United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) study has found that shouting without the use of expletives is the most common form of verbal abuse reported.
However, the study, dubbed 'Baseline Survey: Knowledge, Attitude & Practices Regarding Child Maltreatment in Jamaica', found that 27 per cent of the children reported experiences with shouting with the use of expletives.
In addition, 40 per cent of children reported being called derogatory names by parents and caregivers.
Evidence of abuse
Strong support for the data came during a recent visit by a Sunday Gleaner team to one of Jamaica's tough inner-city communities, where the verbal assault on the children was on display.
In one instance, the interaction between a mother and her 11-year-old son captured the attention of our news team. "U likkle dutty (expletives deleted) yuh. Look from how long mi send you out. But no, you an yuh (expletives deleted) fren dem deh a road. You gwine go a prison like yuh (expletives deleted) daddy," the mother screamed.
Her son and two of his friends were playing in the driveway of a public facility during this tirade. The friends stopped playing to look at the young boy as his mother cursed.
He ignored the screaming woman as he turned to his friends.
"A so she love chat. Wait till mi fada come from prison. A gwine tell him mek him box har inna har (expletive deleted) face."
The boy continued to play with the small tennis ball he had while his mother hollered, "Weh de hair when mi sen yuh fah"?
With the boy ignoring the mother, who sported a bleached face with a half-done false hairstyle and a wrinkled belly exposed by the skimpiness of her clothes, he walked away with a string of expletives.
In the UNICEF study, 35 per cent of respondent regarded emotional abuse as the use of language that will cause pain or hurt to a child's emotions or self-esteem, such as shouting and name-calling.
Thirty per cent 30 per cent defined emotional abuse as actions that destroy a child's self-esteem while 29 per cent described it as negative interaction with a child, and 22 per cent said it is using degrading words/language to a child.
Interpretation of Emotional Abuse - UNICEF study
- Language that causes pain or hurt to self-esteem 35%
- Actions that destroy a child's self-esteem 30%
- Negative interaction with a child 29%
- Use of degrading language to a child 22%
- Actions that create emotional insecurity 14%
- Not showing love/care, belittling 7%
- Embarrassing/degrading in the presence of others 3%
- Depriving child of free time 1%
- Sexually abusing child 1%
- Giving the child adult responsibilities 1%
Some persons gave more than one response