Children's Human Capabilities and Child Maltreatment
A pilot study of one secondary school in Aruba
Abstract
There are no known studies that have explored a conceptual basis for valorizing child maltreatment as a human development impediment using the Human Capability Approach. The pilot study assessed the prevalence of child maltreatment amongst 68 (N=219) school-aged children 12 – 17 years in one secondary school in Aruba using Nussbaum’s list of 10 central human capabilities. Among this sample, the prevalence of child maltreatment was at 100%. The most prevalent types of child maltreatment were emotional abuse (94.2%), physical abuse (88.4%), severe physical abuse (66.7%) and neglect (42%). Sexual abuse had the lowest prevalence rate at 18.8%. The levels of functionings achieved varied according to types of child maltreatment and their prevalence. Neglect, witnessing inter-parental violence and sexual abuse were associated with lower achievements on the combined 10 central human capabilities except for emotional abuse, physical abuse and severe physical abuse which reported highest prevalence. These types of child maltreatment were too common and left little to no variability to calculate statistical relationships with the 10 human capabilities. These findings are disturbing and raise concerns about the normalization of abuse. Further research is recommended to determine the contributing factors to widespread use of emotional and physical abuse and the potential for intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. Future research is also recommended with a larger sample that may provide more meaningful analysis of the capability space of children affected by child maltreatment.
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