Child maltreatment in Kenya, Zambia, and the Netherlands: A cross-cultural comparison of prevalence, psychopathological sequelae, and mediation by PTSS

Abstract

Child maltreatment is a global phenomenon affecting a significant number of the world’s children. The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence of self-reported childhood maltreatment among university students in Kenya, Zambia, and The Netherlands. We also sought to compare the psychopathological sequelae of child maltreatment in the three samples. In addition, we sought to find out whether PTSS mediated the association between child maltreatment and the psychopathological symptoms. The results of our study showed that neglect in childhood was the most prevalent of all forms of child maltreatment across the three samples. Physical abuse and sexual abuse was most prevalent in Kenya and Zambia while witnessing interparental violence was the least prevalent in the two samples. Child maltreatment was differentially associated with psychopathological symptoms in the three samples of our study. Notably, neglect was the most predictive of psychopathology symptoms. The cross-validation results of our study showed that there were no significant differences in the predictive patterns of PTSS from child maltreatment in the three samples. PTSS mediated the association between child maltreatment and psychopathology symptoms albeit differentially. The results of our study show that there is need to mitigate the prevalence and sequelae of child maltreatment.