Social disorganization and history of child sexual abuse against girls in sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel analysis

Yahaya, Ismail, Uthman, Olalekan A., Soares, Joaquim and Macassa, Gloria (2013) 'Social disorganization and history of child sexual abuse against girls in sub-Saharan Africa: a multilevel analysis'. BMC International Health and Human Rights, Vol 13, Issue 1, p. 33.

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Abstract

Background
Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a considerable public health problem. Less focus has been paid to the role of community level factors associated with CSA. The aim of this study was to examine the association between neighbourhood-level measures of social disorganization and CSA.

Methods
We applied multiple multilevel logistic regression analysis on Demographic and Health Survey data for 6,351 adolescents from six countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2006 and 2008.

Results
The percentage of adolescents that had experienced CSA ranged from 1.04% to 5.84%. There was a significant variation in the odds of reporting CSA across the communities, suggesting 18% of the variation in CSA could be attributed to community level factors. Respondents currently employed were more likely to have reported CSA than those who were unemployed (odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48 to 2.83). Respondents from communities with a high family disruption rate were 57% more likely to have reported CSA (OR=1.57, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.16).

Conclusion
We found that exposure to CSA was associated with high community level of family disruption, thus suggesting that neighbourhoods may indeed have significant important effects on exposure to CSA. Further studies are needed to explore pathways that connect the individual and neighbourhood levels, that is, means through which deleterious neighbourhood effects are transmitted to individuals.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 309 Women's health WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 325 Child Abuse WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-698x-13-33
Depositing User:	Martin Chapman
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2015 12:45
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2018 13:08
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/4870

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