Prevalence of child abuse in child and adolescent clinical population referred to psychiatric facilities in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Introduction: The present study was ‎designed to evaluate the prevalence of child abuse in a child and adolescent psychiatric clinical population. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a clinical population of children and adolescents aged 8-18 years. 80 out-patients and 94 in-patients were selected according to probability proportional to size sampling. Kiddie schedule for affective disorder and schizophrenia questionnaire, a demographic questionnaire, and child abuse self-report scale were filled for each subject. Data were analyzed by using Stata software. Results: Among the out-patient subjects, 50 were male (62.5%) and 30 were female (37.5%); for in-patient these subjects numbers were 76 (80.9%) and 18 (19.1%), respectively. The mean age of subjects was 15.2 years in the in-patient group and 11.7 years in the out-patient group. In 66.1% of abuse cases the perpetrators were parents, 5.2% siblings, and 28.7% someone else. Among in-patient subjects, summed up prevalence rates of severe and very severe psychological abuse, neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse were 11.7, 33.0, 2.1, and 0.0%, respectively; for out-patient subjects these values were 3.8, 11.2, 3.8, and 0.0%, respectively. Moreover, among in-patient subjects, prevalence rates of moderate psychological abuse, neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse were 27.7, 27.7, 24.5, and 4.3%, respectively; and for out-patient subjects these values were 30.0, 27.5, 11.2, and 0.0%, respectively. Subjects with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffered a higher rate of physical abuse, whereas, subjects with bipolar mood disorder (BMD) suffered a higher rate of sexual abuse. Conclusion: The prevalence of child abuse is highly prevalent in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. It is recommended that this population be screened routinely for child abuse