Psychical Ill-treatment in Childhood in the Adult Population of the Czech Republic: Occurrenceand Some Connections. Results of a Representative Retrospective Study

Overview

The present study is the first representative study of that kind in the Czech Republic, which was aimed atdetection of the real occurrence of psychical and physical ill-treatment in childhood in our population and someof its connections. In this contribution the authors addressed a part concerning psychical ill-treatment. Psychicalill-treatment is the least explored form of child ill-treatment. One of the reasons is especially the non-existence ofa clear and unequivocal definition of this phenomenon, which can assume various forms - from subtle to very cruelones. In the past the psychical ill-treatment was explored especially as an accompanying manifestation of physicalill-treatment or sexual abuse, but not as an independent form of ill-treatment. The occurrence of this phenomenonin the population of the Czech Republic has been so far covered only by statistical data of the Ministry of Laborand Social Affairs, Police of the Czech Republic and the Department for the Care of Family and Child. Authorssuppose, however, that the notified cases form only the so called peak of the iceberg. The more difficult is to detectthe psychical ill-treatment of children, the more serious are the consequences for further life of the victim, itsneighbourhood and the whole society.The present research was drawn as a sociological and retrospective study. In order to obtain the data a specialmethod was created, a questionnaire form, which was administered on an individual basis. The field investigationwas performed partly by the technique of standardized guided interview and partly by a questionnaire. Adultpopulation of the Czech Republic at the age of 18 to 44 years was interviewed. A representative cohort, selected bya random choice of quotas, was formed by 1104 subjects. In the specification of psychical ill-treatment the authorsstarted from definitions used by important authorities such as Medical Committee of the Council of Europe orCanadian National Reference Center for Family Violence (NCFV).Within the framework of the investigation it also became obvious that 69.1% of questioned Czechs weresubjected to some form of psychical ill-treatment and 83.1% of them reported that they were exposed to some formof physical ill-treatment of punishment in their childhood or youth.

Key words:
psychical ill-treatment, incidence of psychical ill-treatment, consequences of psychical ill-treatment