Peer-reviewed article
Prevalence of violence in a clinical sample of adolescent patients visiting a child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic in Nepal.
Sah R, Brøndbo PH, Ma J, Hansen KL, Devkota N et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the prevalence of different types of violence experienced by adolescents attending a psychiatric clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal. Among 810 adolescents aged 11–15, 88% had experienced some form of violence in the past year, with girls reporting higher rates than boys. Emotional abuse was the most common type, followed by peer aggression (60%), domestic violence (40%), and neglect (25%). Nearly 75% of adolescents experienced multiple forms of violence simultaneously, and different types of violence were significantly correlated, suggesting compounded risks.
Key points
- 88% of adolescent psychiatric patients had experienced some form of violence in the past year
- Emotional abuse was the most common type of violence reported
- Girls reported higher prevalence of violence than boys
- Nearly 75% of adolescents had experienced polyvictimization (multiple forms of violence)
- Significant correlations were found between different forms of violence, indicating compounded risks
Limitations
This study describes prevalence in a clinical sample of adolescents attending a psychiatric outpatient clinic, so findings may not represent the general adolescent population or those not seeking mental health services. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation or the temporal relationship between violence exposure and psychiatric symptoms.
Abstract
Background Child violence is a global concern affecting the well-being and development of children and adolescents worldwide. Despite the obvious need, few studies on child violence have been conducted in clinical samples, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of different types of violence in past-year among adolescent psychiatric patients in Nepal. Participants and setting The participants were 810 adolescents aged 11-15, 392 boys and 418 girls, who visited a child- and adolescent psychiatric outpatient unit in Kathmandu during a 12-month period. Methods We used a descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional design. Data was collected with screening instruments completed by the adolescents themselves. Prevalence rates and range of occurrence of various forms of child violence were computed for both genders. Gender comparisons were conducted using Pearson chi-square tests. Adolescents rated the occurrence in the "rarely", "sometimes", "often" or "frequently" categories. Associations between the different forms were examined by Spearman's correlation test. Results In this study 88% of adolescents had experienced some forms of violence, girls reporting higher prevalence than boys last year. Emotional abuse was the most common. Neglect was reported by 25% of the adolescents, and domestic violence by 40%. Sixty percent of the adolescents had experienced peer aggression. Nearly 75% of the adolescents had experienced polyvictimization and it was higher in girls than boys. Significant correlations were found between several forms of violence, indicating compounded risks. Conclusions The study demonstrates high prevalence of multiple forms of violence among adolescent psychiatric patients, calling for increased awareness of child violence in young patients admitted to mental health institutions in Nepal.