title: Demographic factors, childhood maltreatment and psychological functioning among university students' in Ghana: A retrospective study.
abstract: This study retrospectively investigates the influence of child (i.e., gender), care-giver (e.g., who grew up with), household size (i.e., number of siblings grew up with) and community (i.e., rural versus urban) factors on childhood maltreatment, as well as the impacts of maltreatment on psychological functioning. A cross-sectional survey and self-report methodology is used to gather data from 300 students of the University of Ghana. The results show that being a male, growing up in rural areas, living with more than 3 siblings in the same household and being raised by both biological parents have significant main effects on childhood maltreatment. Analyses of the interaction effects show that living with more than 5 siblings in a rural household with "other" parents (i.e., non-biological parents) has a significant effect on physical abuse. Furthermore, males from rural households consisting of more than 3 siblings and who did not grow up with both biological parents endorsed significantly more physical abuse and physical neglect, compared with the females. With respect to the psychological outcome, childhood maltreatment significantly predicts and account for significant variance in depression (34%), self-efficacy (18%) and life satisfaction (22%). The findings and the implications of the study are briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adjorlolo
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adu-Poku
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Social Science, Sør-Trondelag University College, Trondheim, Norway.|Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
authors.forename: Johnny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andoh-Arthur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Botchway
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Budeba Petro
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Mlyakado
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities
keywords: Africa; Child abuse; Child maltreatment; Ghana; Psychological functioning