The relationship between violence against children and psychological distress, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract The study examined the association between violence against children and psychological distress. It used an explanatory cross-sectional survey research design. It involved 380 samples selected from grade 5 up to 8 students who attended primary schools found in Yirgachefe, Wonago, and Dilla towns of Gedeo zone, south region of Ethiopia. It employed systematic random sampling technique for sample selection. It used three tools to collect quantitative data. The first instrument was a child version for age 11–18 (ICAST-C) 53 items to study the magnitude of violence committed against children. The second tool was Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), which is a 10 items self-report measure of psychological distress as a quick tool to assess risk for serious psychological distress. The third tool was a self-designed Likert scale questionnaire adapted from United Nations Children’s Fund, International Classification of Violence against Children (UNICEF) (2023) to identify perpetrators. The study analyzed data through descriptive statistics including Mean, Standard Deviation and Percentage. Besides, it used inferential statistics with t-test, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis. Findings indicate that 197 (51.8%) males and 183 (48.2%) female students participated in the study. The findings also shows that the overall prevalence of violence including (physical, psychological, sexual & neglect) was 222 (58.4%) children with M = 3.24 SD = 0.92. As the result 208 (54.7%) participants with M = 36.59 SD = 3.68 were exposed to psychological distress. Besides, there was a significant positive correlational association between violence against children and psychological distress with Pearson correlation coefficient 0.943 and with a corresponding r = ([378]) = [0.943], P = (0.000) at P < .0.05. Moreover, (R2 = 0.89) of the regression analysis shows that an increase in violence against children has an associated impact with an increase in psychological distress by 89% magnitude. Therefore, the alternative hypothesis (H1) was accepted. Based on the findings, it is advisable to design appropriate intervention strategies to keep children from violence.