Examining the Awareness Levels of Parents on Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Introduction: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is defined as all kinds of actions that an adult uses a child for sexual purposes. The studies concluded that parents have incomplete or incorrect information and the protection of children against abuse is the fundamental duty of parents. This study analyses the CSA awareness levels of parents. Methods: Descriptive survey model is performed. The research sample covers 455 parents. The Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Scale for Parents and a demographical information form was used for research data collection and analyzed on SPSS 21.0 software. Results: A statistically significant difference was found between parents’ CSA awareness levels and age, gender, marital status, duration of marriage, education level, and number of children. The results showed that parents who were married for up to 10 years had a university degree, had only 1 child, and had higher awareness of sexual abuse myths. Contrary to expectations, no significant results were obtained regarding the signs of sexual abuse scores of groups with high awareness of myths of sexual abuse. Implications for Research and Practice: Contrary to the literature, the awareness levels of fathers about CSA are lower than the awareness levels of mothers, and the awareness levels of parents decrease as they get older. There is a need for further comprehensive and more scientific studies to identify the CSA problem in North Cyprus and propose solutions, and consequently prevention programs should be developed for professional groups that are related with child and parents.