Role of Media: University’s Student Perception, Knowledge, Myth and Awareness about Child Sexual Abuse

Sania Kokab^1*, Khair Ahmad Tahir²

¹Department of Sciences and Humanities, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

²Department of Computer Science, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

*Corresponding Author:

Sania Kokab
Department of Sciences and Humanities,
National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences,
Lahore,
Pakistan;
Email: kokabsania273@gmail.com

Received: 12-July-2021, Manuscript No. GMJ-23-36202; Editor assigned: 15-July-2021, PreQC No. GMJ-23-36202 (PQ); Reviewed: 29-July-2021, QC No. GMJ-23-36202; Revised: 19-July-2023, Manuscript No. GMJ-23-36202 (R); Published: 16-August-2023, DOI: 10.36648/1550-7521.21.64.383

Citation: Kokab S, Tahir KA (2023) Role of Media: University’s Student Perception, Knowledge, Myth and Awareness about Child Sexual Abuse. Global Media Journal, 21:64.

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Abstract

The current research aims to explore and evaluate selected university student’s perception, knowledge, myth and awareness about child sexual abuse. For this purpose, the survey method used to analyze the role of media and perception, knowledge, myth and awareness regarding child sexual abuse of selected university students which standardized questionnaire designed to evaluate the student’s perception, myth, awareness and knowledge towards child sexual abuse. Co-relation and monova were used for the interpretation of the analysis. The following findings revealed a strong association between the perception of students and bad media role (r=0.405, p<0.05) as well as indicated significant age, gender and ducational differences. The finding of the study also declared that students are not satisfied with the role of media, in this case, rather media should educate the society about sexual abuse and the culprit should be arrested and punished strictly.

Keywords

China child sexual abuse; Knowledge; Awareness; Perception; Media

Introduction

Assault and abuse of children in terms of gender is a most influential and prevailing issue in this society now a day. Every society suffers from such issues and not a single individual is affected from this prevailing problem of the society. Assault and abuse of children in terms of gender has arrived at pestilence extents in the United States dependent on information assembled by the habitats for disease control 2010 and the bureau of justice statistics.

Child sexual abuse is a sin which is committed in every society child sexual abuse is alarmingly high. People involved in this act are called pedophiliacs in psychology. A pedophilic has keen interest to get sexual gratification from a childs body. People involved in this act showed high score in impulsivity they act on impulses and dont focus on the consequences of the act. In psychology child sexual abuse gate greater importance as the effects of abuse on the mental health of a child are adverse [1]. Children who became the victim of child sexual abuse developed fears, anxieties and many mal adaptive behaviors. The confidence and self-esteem of the victim effected badly. Children with the history of abuse have physical and psychological problems.

While assault and abuse of children in terms of sex affected the life of a child in many domains. Assault and abuse of children in terms of sex may be defined loosely as any act against a minor that is sexual in nature including voyeurism, fondling and sexual intercourse. Assault and abuse of children in terms of gender child sexual abuse has been defined as oral-genital and anal touch with a child, non-touching abuse such as voyeurism, sexual penetration, prostitution, pornography and acts where a child is forced or encouraged to perform these acts upon an adult. There are many definitions of assault and abuse of children in terms of gender. Child sexual abuse is also explained as any act from foundling to rape. Further, child sexual abuse means engaging a child in sexual activities in a way for which the child is developmentally unprepared and he (or she) cannot give informed consent.

The trauma of being victimized creates stress and tension in their head. Child sexual abuse cannot be treated like other social issues. Other social issues like mental health, wellbeing, social norms, stereotypes etc. can be settled down but the act of abuse has long lasting effect on the mind of victim, once a child experience child abuse, he or she cannot remove the social stigmatization from him. In Pakistan the ratio of child abuse increases day by day the main reason of this issue is the excessive exposure of gender related material. Websites on world wide web are in the excess of everyone in Pakistan. Multiple English movies, novels and drama gave the exaggerated picture of gender matters in front of general public. People who take excessive exposure of a sax matters do these sinful acts. It has strong effects on child [2]. Most victims cause severe depression as theories of depression define the cause.

Mental trouble is an absence of fervor, excitement and vivacious conduct. Individuals with mental misery have issues with their dozing patter, eating design and have clashes in their relational connections. They feel miserable and blue; anything identified with any everyday issue can't satisfy them. They have negative sentiments about their own self. They feel that they are absolute disappointment and they can't convey various things in a sound manner. They feel awful about their future they believed that things won't change in their life. As indicated by Lerutla mental misery is an enthusiastic involvement where an individual feels dissatisfaction and he can't adapt to that disappointment and stress.

Mirowsky and Ross portray mental pain as an undesirable inclination and a condition of sadness and trouble which cause tension. He likewise included that there are varieties in the force of mental trouble. A few people have gentle mental pain however some have elevated level of mental trouble. Child sexual abuse is a sin which is committed in every society, the ratio of child sexual abuse is alarmingly high. People involved in this act are called pedophiliacs in psychology. A pedophilic has keen interest to get sexual gratification from a child’s body. People involved in this act showed high score in impulsivity they act on impulses and don’t focus on the consequences of their act. In psychology child sexual abuse gate greater importance as the effects of abuse on the mental health of a child are adverse. Children who became the victim of child sexual abuse developed fears, anxieties and many mal adaptive behaviors. The confidence and self-esteem of the victim effected badly [3]. Children with the history of abuse have physical and psychological problems.

Mass media is a termed which is used to explain all available resources of communication to spread different messages and news. There are multiple types of mass media resources. There are multiple types of mass media resources which come out with the advancement of new technology. Here we enlist some important mass media resources. Print media was the foremost type of resource which comes out from old ages. From a very long-time people use this medium of resource to update their selves with the outside world. Electronic media is a type of media which is used to elaborate messages with visual messages. It is the consequences of new advancement and technology but in all over the world it is widely used to get updates from outer world. Social media is the outcome of advanced technology and smart phone apps, now days it is the very strong source of communication. Social media spread news’s in seconds, excessive shares and comments have a power to viral something in seconds important social media resources. With the advancement of media psychologist start studying the impact of media on the life of a normal human being. In this huge era of technology things spread out in a very rapid way and all these updates and all news has significant impact on our personality and on our thinking process. The role of media in the context of child sexual abuse was very important to study.

Rationale/Significance

Child sexual abuse is one of the significant issues of media interest. Findings from nationally representative studies, twin studies and meta-analyses indicate that child sexual abuse is affecting the society in multiple domains. It was so important to find out the role of media with regards to child sexual abuse. This study will be helped electronic and print media to explore their good and bad roles in the context of child sexual abuse. It will help them to focus on this issue with more clear guidelines.

Statement of the problem: Approximately 300,000 children in the U.S are sexually abused every year (American Psychological Association, 2012). However, it is believed the actual number is greater since many cases are unreported.The main objective of this study is to explore the good and bad role of media in the context of child sexual abuse [4].This study is an exploration of student’s views about the role of media on the basis of their perceptions about child sexual abuse.Child sexual abuse is the most painful issue of this society. Media gave this issue special importance, and highlight the each and every aspect of these phenomena in front of general population. This study will explore factors associated with these perceptions.

Research objectives:

• Role of media in the context of child sexual abuse.
• To explore the university student’s perceptions, knowledge, myth and awareness.

Research questions:

• What are university’s students perceptions about sexual abuse of children?
• What are university’s students knowledge and awareness of sexual maltreatment of child?

With the advancement of media, media industries started to spell out awareness about some very common social issues, which need to be spread out, which need to be considered, which need to be resolved by using the platform of media. One of these social issues is child sexual abuse. Abuse is a term which is used when we are trying to define the behavior of a person regarding something which is cruel violent and bad. There are many types of abuse. The child sexual abuse is the cruelest from of abuse which is done by some evil spirits.

Child sexual abuse

Youngster sexual maltreatment essentially is a term which clarifies the maltreatment of a kid in numerous spaces. Kids are manhandled sincerely physically and mentally. Sexual maltreatment of a kid is identified with sexual discussions. Sexual attack and sexual contacts. When we talk about youngster sexual maltreatment it is identified with all exercises which are identified with sex with little kids [5]. Youngsters' don't think about sex generally they don't have inside about great and terrible touch. There are individuals in our general public who exploited this guiltlessness and utilize those kids for their evil purposes.

In early stages of childhood unwanted exposure of sexuality creates complications and conflicts in the innocent minds of little children. There are people who try to give a negative exposure of sexuality to little children. This behavior can create conflicts in little minds of children, they are so young and they don't have inside about what is good and what is bad, there are people who tried to manipulate the innocence of children and they try to first give them and exposure of sexuality and then they try to use the children for their evil purposes. Pedophilia is a term which is used to refer people who have urge to have sexual relationship with little children. Sometimes they tried to kidnap young little children and sometimes they do child marriages for getting satisfaction from a little child. On the matters of lands and family systems, there are people in rural areas of Pakistan who do practice child marriage for these purposes. But infect the child marriage is itself a molestation and it should be banned on all over the world.

The studies that have compared the effects of child sexual abuse on the mental health of men and women have produced mixed results. Some studies have found that women with histories of child sexual abuse report worse outcomes than men other studies have found that men with histories of child sexual abuse have similar or worse mental health than women. The topic of child sexual abuse remains a difficult one to discuss for many adults who were abused, especially for many men. Cultural and societal norms surrounding masculinity (e.g., men cannot be victims, men should be able to protect themselves at all times and men are not 10 emotionally harmed by child sexual abuse) may severely restrict discussions of child sexual abuse. In addition to the general shame often associated with being victimized, many men feel shame and self-doubt because the abuser was male.

They may fear being blamed or labeled a homosexual which may contribute to self-silencing. Therefore, although there is increased public awareness and understanding of sexually abused men, they remain a highly marginalized, stigmatized and understudied group. The purpose of this study was to examine which factors are related to mental health problems for MSAC. Many of the studies on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse have examined a wide range of psychological symptoms and problems. This study will focus on symptoms related to three mental health problems: Depression, anxiety and somatization. These problems were selected for this study because they are among the most commonly discussed issues of child sexual abuse are frequently the target of clinical interventions with clients who have histories of child sexual abuse and represent three distinct but related mental health problems [6]. The trauma of being victimized creates stress and tension in their head. Child sexual abuse cannot be treated like other social issues. Other social issues like mental health, wellbeing, social norms, stereotypes etc. can be settled down but the act of abuse has long lasting effect on the mind of victim, once a child experience child abuse, he or she cannot remove the social stigmatization from him.

Materials and Methods

This quantitative descriptive study is designed to identify students perception, knowledge, myth and awareness of sexual abuse of children. Regression, correlation and manovaare used for the interpretation of data by use of SPSS. Data analyzed by using descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviations) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software program.

Participants

The samples of this study consist of 400 students (219 males, 189 females).

Population/Inclusion criteria: Only students will be selected.

Exclusion criteria: People related to other fields of life except students will not be selected.

Procedure

Educated assent was taken from the member. Purposive testing procedure was utilized in this examination; participants were accepted about secrecy of the information. The questions of the members were tended to. After accumulation of information poll were scored with the assistance of scoring key.

Statistical analysis

Regression, correlation and manovais used for the interpretation of data by use of SPSS.

Operational definition of variables child sexual abuse

Any act against a child that is sexual in nature including voyeurism, fondling and sexual intercourse.

Perception

The ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses.

Research design

This quantitative descriptive study is designed to identify students Perception, knowledge, myth and awareness of sexual abuse of children. In this research, data from Lahore’s universities students will be collected by use of questioner in order to gain answers for the research questions about sexual abuse of children.

Sample

Participants for the study included university’s female and male undergraduate students.

Pilot test

A pilot test to improve and enhance my survey instrument was conducted. This helped in organization of the questions asked and readability of the survey. The pilot study was performed on a group of 25 students enrolled in a general education health course at UMT.

Data analysis

Data analyzed by using descriptive statistics (frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviations) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software program.

Limitations and delimitations

There are a few limiting factors in this research. The first limiting factor was all of the participants of the research were enrolled at 4 universities of Lahore. University students at other universities were not included in the sample due to time limitations. Another limiting factor was that the classes surveyed were not randomly selected. Random selection of classes would have allowed a more representative sampling for this study.

Results

This study is an investigation of university students perception, knowledge myth and awareness about child sexual abuse moreover this research will also evaluate the good and bad role of media regarding child sexual abuse [7]. Connection investigation is utilized to assess relationship between student’s perception, myths, knowledge and their opinions regarding good and bad role of media. Multivariate analysis of variance is used to see gender, educational and age differences among students and their perceptions (Tables 1-5).

Table 1. Recurrence table of demographic characteristic of sample (N=400).

Data collected from 400 students, male 219 and female 181, age 18 years to 33 years. 140 students undergraduate 260 graudate and post graduate.

Table 2. Relationship among myths, knowledge, perception and good and bad role of media.

Interpretation

Correlation analysis revealed signi icant positive correlation among student’s knowledge and perception, student’s myths and perception, student’s myth and good role of media, student’s myth and bad role of media, student’s perception and good role of media, student‘s perception and bad role of media [8]. Findings showed strong correlation among student’s perception, knowledge, myths and bad role of media as compare to student’s perception, myths, knowledge and good role of media.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of gender differences in terms student’s perception about child sexual abuse, student’s knowledge about child sexual abuse, student’s myths about child sexual abuse and student’s views about good or bad job of media (N=400).

Interpretation

Multivariate analysis of variance speci ies age differences in terms student’s perception about child sexual abuse, student’s knowledge about child sexual abuse, student’s myths about child sexual abuse and student’s views about good or bad job of media. Findings revealed that people related to 30 and above 30 age group got high mean score on the perception of good media and bad media. People related to (27 to 29) age group got high score on myths about media role in child sexual abuse. People related to (21 to 23) age group got high score on perception of child sexual abuse and people related to 21 to 23 age group have higher knowledge about child sexual abuse.

Table 4. Descriptive statistics of education differences in terms student’s perception about child sexual abuse, student’s knowledge about child sexual abuse, student’s myths about child sexual abuse and student’s views about good or bad job of media (N=400).

Interpretation

Multivariate analysis of variance speci ies educational differences in terms of student’s perception about child sexual abuse, student’s knowledge about child sexual abuse, student’s myths about child sexual abuse and student’s views about good or bad job of media. Findings revealed that people related to post graduate level got high mean score on the perception of good media and bad media [9]. People related to under graduate level got high score on myths about media role in child sexual abuse. People related to graduation level group got high score on perception of child sexual abuse and people related to graduation level have higher knowledge about child sexual abuse.

Table 5. Descriptive statistics of rural and urban differences in terms student’s perception about child sexual abuse, student’s knowledge about Child sexual abuse, student’s myths about child sexual abuse and student’s views about good or bad job of media (N=400).

Interpretation

Multivariate analysis of variance specifies rural and urban differences in terms of student’s perception about child sexual abuse, student’s knowledge about child sexual abuse, student’s myths about child sexual abuse and student’s views about good or bad job of media. Findings revealed that people related to urban areas got high mean score on the perception of good media and bad media [10]. People related to rural areas got high score on myths about media role in child sexual abuse. People related to urban areas got high score on perception of child sexual abuse and people related to rural areas group have higher knowledge about child sexual abuse.

Discussion

The point of this examination is to discover the job of media in the context of child sexual abuse awareness. Mass media is the most important part of this society and its role in awareness is also considerable. It was hypothesized that the perceptions, myths and knowledge of students has significant impact on their perceptions related to good and bad role of media.

The research question of the study was “how university student’s perceive media’s role in the context of child abuse” correlation analysis was conducted to find association between student’s perceptions related good and bad media’s role. Findings revealed strong association between perception of students and bad media role (r=0.405, p<0.05). According to student’s media is not doing the right job in the context of spreading awareness about child sexual abuse. In Pakistan the ratio of child abuse increases day by day the main reason of this issue is the excessive exposure of sex related material [11]. Websites on World Wide Web are in the excess of everyone in Pakistan. Multiple English movies, novels and drama gave the exaggerated picture of sex matters in front of general public. People who take excessive exposure of a sax matters do these sinful acts. Child sexual abuse has strong effects on child. Most victims cause severe depression as theories of depression define the cause. The point of this research is to find the role of media in the context of child sexual abuse awareness. Mass media is the most important part of this society and its role in awareness is also considerable. It was hypothesized that the perceptions, myths and knowledge of students has significant impact on their perceptions related to good and bad role of media.

Findings revealed significant relationship between student’s perception, knowledge, myth and their views about media role. Media role was also studied in numerous previous researches. As media has a great power to change the opinions of individual [12]. So, it can be said that if a person knows the good and bad aspects of media power, he can manipulate the concerned knowledge and spread it throughout the general population.

It was also hypothesized that the education of students strongly predicts their perceptions myths and knowledge related to media. Findings revealed that students with higher education has more knowledge about child sexual abuse and students belonging to low educational groups has high scores on myths related to child sexual abuse [13]. Previous researches also concluded that education has strong association with awareness related to child sexual abuse.

It was also hypothesized that age is a strong predictor of knowledge, myths and perceptions related to child sexual abuse. Findings revealed that young adults are more aware about the issue of child sexual abuse as compare to old age people. Previous researches explored this phenomenon and reported same findings, according to previous findings people related to young age has more concerned about different social phenomenon’s and child abuse is the most prevailing and important issue to be considered [14].

This study has strong implications in the field of print and electronic media. This study will help people related to different media groups to reshape their perceptions about their job duties and their job roles in the context of different awareness campaigns.

Conclusion

Child sexual abuse is a sin committed in every society. The ratio of this type of incidents is increasing day by day. Previous studies indicated that child sexual abuse is affecting the society in multiple domains. In past, there is no such awareness techniques has been adapted by different organizations regarding child sexual abuse. In this study, the role of media has been discussed to examine its participation in this regard. It was hypothesized that the perceptions, myths and knowledge of students has significant impact on their perceptions related to good and bad role of media. The study revealed that media is not playing its role as it should be. Students, especially children are free to access different types of porn-websites and unethical material. There is no such check and balance in spreading such online information. The study also revealed that undergraduate student, youngsters and male students living in urban area are more aware of child sexual abuse. While females, uneducated and rural population is more victimized and sexually assaulted. Data was collected through survey method after developing suitable questionnaire. Whereas convenient sampling technique is used while selecting around 400 samples. Co-relation and monova was used for the interpretation of analysis. Finding of the study indicated significant age, gender and educational differences. Finding of the study also declared that students are not satisfied from the role of media in this case, rather media should educate the society about sexual abuse and the culprit should be arrested and punished strictly. Only strict rules, media’s full support and sex education regarding child sexual abuse can minimize the threats as well as makes our society a piece of paradise for children.

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