Psychological and physical abuse towards four-year-old children as reported by their parents: A national Finnish survey

Background: In Finnish society, child maltreatment is a health and social problem with harmful consequences. Identifying families at risk may help preventing child maltreatment recurrence.

Objective: The aim of this nationwide retrospective cross-sectional study was to describe the child- and family-related risk factors associated with physical and psychological abuse experienced by 4-year-old children.

Methods: This study analyzed nationwide survey data collected by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Overall, 17,009 parents (46%) visiting at a child health clinic filled out the survey consent form. For 8720 children, one or both parents completed the questionnaire (24%). Analyses were carried out using χ² tests and binary logistic regression.

Results: Of the 4-year-olds, 44% had experienced at least one form of psychological abuse and 14% physical abuse. These forms of violence co-occurred in 25% of the reported cases (p < 001). Intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment co-occurred in 19.6% of psychological abuse (p < .001) and 22.5% of physical abuse cases (p < .001). Parents exposed to IPV was the risk factor most likely to predict an increased risk for both psychological abuse (OR 4.01, CI 3.41-4.72; p < .001), and physical abuse (OR 2.19, CI 1.81-2.64; p < .001). Approving of hair-pulling or pinching the child (i.e., using corporal punishment) was most likely to predict an increased risk of physical abuse (OR 13.70, CI 11.69-16.06; p < .001).

Conclusions: The findings emphasize the importance of preventing all forms of child maltreatment by identifying families at risk and supporting parenthood according to families' needs.