Explaining lower rates of sexual abuse in China☆
Section snippets
Chinese surveys have a wide range of prevalence estimates
Although Chinese rates, when pooled, seem lower in international comparisons, it is important to recognize that Chinese studies have tremendous variability. At one extreme, a survey by Yen et al. (2008) of 1,684 Taiwanese high school students estimated that only 2% of females experienced any CSA events. A nationally representative survey of 2,994 people ages 20–64 in Mainland China (Luo, Parish, & Laumann, 2008) also reported prevalence of just 3.3% for females. These both contrast with several
Survey features make a difference
The Ji et al. (2013) meta-analysis of the Chinese studies did show that various features of the studies and their populations were associated with higher or lower prevalence. Estimates for females were lower in studies from urban areas and non-mainland areas (Hong Kong and Taiwan), in surveys with larger and probability samples and multiple sites, and those that used face-to-face interviews compared to self-completion questionnaires. Higher prevalence was generally found in studies that used
Is there evidence for inhibited disclosure?
A variety of researchers confronting the relatively low rates among Chinese populations have posed the question of whether cultural factors inhibit disclosure or acknowledgment of CSA (Chan, Yan, Brownridge, & Ip, 2013; Luo et al., 2008). Similar questions were asked when low rates have been found for other experiences, such as mental disorders (Kleinman and Lin, 1981, Shen et al., 2006). At the same time, a large number of surveys of sexual behavior have been conducted in China, including
Is there evidence for truly lower rates of CSA?
Many social scientists find it quite plausible that Chinese rates of CSA could be lower than in many other places. What is the evidence from other social indicators and research that would be consistent with truly lower rates?
Bottom line: rates of CSA are likely lower in China
While there is evidence to support the idea that some portion of the lower rates in Chinese studies can be ascribed to inhibited disclosure, we also think the weight of the evidence points to truly lower occurrence of sexual abuse. On the one hand, the evidence for inhibited disclosure is mixed and does not suggest large effects. On the other hand, the lower rates of CSA for women are large, show up repeatedly in many comparisons, in many contexts and are consistent with evidence from other
What can be learned from China?
Confucian culture is often mentioned with its strong emphasis on family ties, and family responsibility for promoting security and protection (Li, Ahmed, & Zabin, 2012). In this light, observers often comment on the particularly high level of supervision and monitoring that Chinese children receive, female children in particular. This may be additionally facilitated by the fact that families have few children in whom they are strongly invested – a situation influenced by the one-child policy in
Explaining gender differentials
The merit of these preceding explanations, however, may depend on whether they need to explain a differential effect for girls vs. boys. The pooled prevalence data presented earlier appeared to show a more definitively lowered comparative rate for girls than boys in international comparisons. For boys, penetrative abuse is rare but contact abuse is relatively common (Ji et al., 2013) and overall abuse in terms of any unwanted sexual event may be higher than international standards. If the
Prevention implications
Unfortunately, the protective factors about China identified here and in the literature so far may have only limited implications for prevention elsewhere in the world. Cultural features like self-restraint and collectivist norms about responsibility for the group are the products of lengthy historical and cultural evolution and hard to engineer, especially in highly individualistic cultures. Family size and quality of supervision are driven by large societal imperatives (housing conditions,
Research implications
This commentary on CSA in the Chinese context suggests attention to a number of matters in future research.
To date there has been no published analysis of CSA trends over time from community-based surveys in China. Attention should be given to replicating studies over time, especially because some replication research on other aspects of sexual behavior shows dramatic time trends (Huang et al., 2011). Future research should be sure to measure salient social and interpersonal dimensions that may
Conclusion
China appears to be a country where research on sexual abuse and its epidemiology is developing rapidly. There is a growing network of interested investigators and an infrastructure to support their activities. This research has the potential to provide many insights that will benefit the international community concerned with understanding and preventing this problem. One of the most pressing questions is whether this research will also have an impact on the development of prevention
Practice implications
This article makes specific recommendations for conducting future epidemiologic work on CSA in China. Measures of social desirability and inhibited disclosure should be included, as well as other efforts to assess whether reports of sexual abuse are being withheld. Specific assessments of cultural values should be made to test notions about the relationship between cultural features and the occurrence of abuse.
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For the purposes of compliance with Section 507 of PL 104–208 (the “Stevens Amendment”) readers are advised that the funds for this research are derived from the UBS Optimus Foundation. The total amount of funding involved is $83,722. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the funder.