A Comprehensive Review of Research on Child Abuse in Jordan

Past decades have seen increasing worldwide interest in child abuse research. No comprehensive reviews that address child abuse research in Jordan have been published. This review sought to synthesize and critique published research literature on child abuse in Jordan from 2000 onwards in order to establish what is known about the extent and pattern of this problem. An electronic literature search of child abuse studies conducted in Jordan was done by using PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and PsycINFO. The search yielded 13 published studies on child abuse in Jordan between 2000 and 2018. Child sexual abuse (CSA) was addressed in four studies; emotional child abuse in two studies; and physical child abuse in two studies. Different forms of child abuse were addressed in five studies. Self-reports were the most commonly used data collection instruments. The majority of informants were children under the age of 18. Main issues addressed were prevalence estimates of child abuse, consequences of child abuse, and perceptions and knowledge regarding child abuse. While the prevalence rates of different types of child abuse reported varied considerably, the estimates provided by the majority of studies conducted in Jordan were roughly comparable to estimates reported in other developing countries. Several studies documented the negative consequences of child abuse and revealed a widespread lack of awareness of methods of reporting child abuse cases or community support agencies. This review demonstrates that children in Jordan are subjected to all forms of child abuse. Although this was an exploratory study, the results demonstrate an urgent need for more comprehensive research on this problem.