Domestic Violence in Single- and Multi-child families in China: a ten-year comparison in the same communities

Chinese one-child policy has been practiced for more than 30 years. With the policy that one couple can have two children being fully implemented from Jan 1, 2016 in China, the families with two or more children are increasing, and the family size, family structure and family relationship has been largely changed. Little is known about the difference in domestic violence (DV) among single- and multi-child families in China. This study compared the prevalence, causes, patterns, consequence of DV and the attitude towards DV among single-child and multi-child families in the same communities between ten years in China. Epidemiological surveys were conducted among single-child and multi-child families in the same communities during the period of 2001-2002 (group 2002) for 9451 families and 2011-2012 (group 2012) for 6859 families, respectively. The same investigation methods, questionnaires and investigators were used in the two surveys. The findings indicated that the child abuse has been increasing, and the child education being the issue has climbed to the top in multi-child families. The negative attitude towards DV stayed the same in both single- and multi-child families. It is suggested that the intervention strategies on DV should be adjusted to the new situations, especially with the arrival of more multi-child families in current China.