Prevalence and Risk Factors for Parental Violence against Children: A Review Study

Introduction: Today, parental violence against children is regarded an important public health, human rights issue and a social problem that leads to devastating consequences affecting the family, society and the country, and is passed on to future generations. The aim of the present study was to review the prevalence and risk factors for parental violence against children. Materials and Methods: In this narrative review a search of online databases (Medline, EMBASE, Scopus and Google Scholar) for studies published till Nov ۲۰۲۰, ۵۷ articles have been reviewed, of which ۱۱ related articles were included in this review. Study selection was done by two reviews. Results: The present study showed high prevalence of parental violence against children in most countries and the most common type of violence is physical and psychological violence. Poor socioeconomic status, low level of education of one or both parents, experience of physical violence of parents in childhood, and the number of children in the family are among important risk factors for increasing prevalence of parental violence against children. Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of parental violence against children and subsequent psychological effects on children, there is a growing need to inform parents of the consequences of violence against children and to adopt preventive measures. In this regard, educational authorities such as schools and the media can play a very important role and it is necessary to provide the necessary educational programs for parents.