Prevalence and types of childhood abuse among special education students attending Jordanian Universities

Abstract

This survey study was conducted to determine childhood abuse experiences among pre-service special education teachers at five Jordanian universities. The sample consisted of (384) students. A survey was constructed, validated and administrated on the students. Results revealed that 6.1% of all participants were exposed to a high level of abuse during childhood. Participants rated verbal abuse domain as the highest domain of CA, followed by neglect, emotional abuse and physical abuse. Meanwhile, students rated sexual abuse domain as the lowest domain. Results also revealed statistically significant mean differences in the level of abuse due to gender, maternal employment, marital status, cumulative average, monthly income, parent’s education level and residence location. The implications for planning programmes are described.