CHILD-ABUSE IN HONG-KONG REVISITED AFTER 15 YEARS - CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTIMS AND ABUSERS

The purpose of this paper was to examine the characteristics of the vi ctims and abusers of child abuse cases on the Child Protection Registr y in Hong Kong as of March 1995 and to compare findings with a similar community report of child abuse in Hong Kong conducted approximately 15 years earlier. As of March 31, 1995, there were 457 active cases of child abuse or suspected child abuse (44% male and 56% female) on the computerized Child Protection Registry. Fifty percent of the victims were grade school age children between 7-12, and 62.4% suffered physic al abuse. The abusers or suspected abusers were 52% male and 48% femal e with nearly half (49%) in their thirties. The majority of abusers we re married/cohabiting (75%) with only a grade school education (60%). As compared to 1979, there was an increase of sexual child abuse cases , female victims of child abuse, and an increase in male abusers or su spected abusers. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd