Attitudes of the Singapore public to actions suggesting child abuse.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to ascertain the views of the Singapore public on the acceptability of actions of an abusive nature.


METHODS
In-depth interviews were carried out with 401 randomly sampled respondents in relation to a range of actions. Questions were asked concerning the acceptability of 18 actions, whether circumstances might justify eight of them, how respondents felt about reporting child abuse and whether they could recall any case they had come across.


RESULTS
Respondents strongly disapproved of sexually motivated acts, and were more disapproving of physical abuse or neglect than of emotional abuse or neglect. Circumstances did affect how the less extreme actions were viewed. Respondents supported reporting child abuse, but were somewhat against mandatory reporting. They were able to recall details of a number of possible cases.


CONCLUSIONS
We argue that definitions of child abuse should be general and not tied to specific actions, since the effects of actions may vary across cultures, and should be treated as an empirical matter. This allows a research agenda that focuses on the consequences of actions rather than issues of definition.
Elliott
J M
JM
Department of Social Work & Psychology, National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
Tong
C K
CK
Tan
P M
PM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D008875:Middle Aged; D011639:Public Opinion; D012846:Singapore; D012945:Social Values