The scope of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse in a Bedouin-Arab community of female adolescents: The interplay of racism, urbanization, polygamy, family honor, and the social marginalization of women.
OBJECTIVE
This is an exploratory study of the abuse-especially sexual-of female adolescents in a conservative and traditional Bedouin-Arab community in southern Israel. The objectives were (1) to examine the rate of sexual abuse, (2) to examine the rate of physical and psychological abuse, and (3) to develop regression models to predict these forms of abuse.


METHODS
: A self-administered survey that measured demographic characteristics and psychological abuse was distributed to 217 female high-school students (aged 14-18 years). Sexual and physical abuse were measured via the Finkelhor's scale [Finkelhor, D. (1979). Sexually victimized children. New York: Free Press].


RESULTS
Sixty-nine percent of the participants (n=149) reported no sexual abuse experiences, 16% reported one or two experiences, 11% reported three or four, and 4% reported more than four. Most participants indicated that they had been physically abused at least once by their father (37.1%), mother (43.7%), or siblings (44%) during the previous month. More than 50% of the participants reported being psychologically abused by members of their immediate families. Mother's age and closeness to mother significantly predicted physical abuse, and marital satisfaction and mother's age significantly predicted psychological abuse.


CONCLUSIONS
This study addresses a topic that has never before been fully investigated--the maltreatment of females in a conservative, tribal Arab community. Although this was an exploratory study, the results attest that female abuse is a serious social problem in this community, and that the rate of abuse exceeds that of other Palestinian groups. These findings demonstrate an immediate need for professional intervention and prevention to address this problem.
Elbedour
Salman
S
Dept. of Human Development and Psychoeducational Studies, School of Education, Howard University, 2441 Fourth Street NW, Washington, DC 20059, USA.
Abu-Bader
Soleman
S
Onwuegbuzie
Anthony J
AJ
Abu-Rabia
Aref
A
El-Aassam
Salman
S
D000293:Adolescent; D018912:Arabs / Q000208:ethnology*; D001290:Attitude; D018585:Battered Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage; D011287:Prejudice; D015995:Prevalence; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014507:Urbanization