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Abstract
Parental physical abuse is a noxious problem in need of prevention and related research in China, as well as in other places. The prevention supposedly originates from professionals such as teachers, social workers, and police, as indicated by their visiting, helping, and/or punishing. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the professional prevention is unclear or even doubtful and controversial. A doubt concerning the relationship between the prevention and abuse suggests that the prevention is a response to the abuse. To clarify the preventive effectiveness, this study surveyed 1,956 children (predominantly aged 15-18 years) in Shanghai. It held physical abuse and professional contact in the recent month as the outcomes and physical abuse and professional contact earlier and background characteristics as predictors, thus controlling for the earlier states of the outcomes. Results showed that none of the professional services of home visiting, helping, and punishment reduced parental physical abuse later. Instead, social workers' visiting and help displayed significant positive effects on the abuse later. Moreover, the professionals' home visiting and help received significant positive effects from the abuse earlier. These findings suggest that social work services raised children's awareness and reporting of the abuse and social workers and teachers were responsive to the abuse. They lead to implications for capitalizing on the strength of professional services to ensure the awareness and reporting as the first step to prevent the abuse.
Introduction
Children's experience of physical abuse such as hitting or injuring by their parents is a traumatic, noxious, and necessary for prevention (Cui et al. 2016). The prevention commonly relies on professional services, including helping and home visiting by teachers and social workers, and punishment by police or court (Bolen 2003; Evans et al. 2014). That is, the professional services attempt to target parents and other family, as well as children in order to prevent the parents from abusing their children through providing counseling, help, punishment, and other interventions (Euser et al. 2015; Stith et al. 2009). These services, particularly visiting, helping, and punishing, nevertheless, have not demonstrated clear effects for the prevention (Duggan et al. 2007). Despite the inconsistency of research evidence, however, these professional services have been advisable for preventing parental abuse (Evans et al. 2014; Olds et al. 2010). This advice is thereby...