Violence Against Children in Suriname - Mothers' Survey
Response of mothers to the issue of Violence Against Children
Highlights
Violence against children mainly occurs in the direct residential and living environment of the child, especially within the family circle. The Students Survey (see the report Students Survey below) shows that perpetrators are often parents and/or direct family members. With the purpose of better understanding the issue of violence against children, a separate study was conducted among parents, notably mothers and other female caretakers, as part of the nationwide study ‘Violence against Children in Suriname’. This ‘Mothers Survey’ is mainly intended to develop more insight in the behaviour of parents and caretakers, their interaction with children, and to what extent and how at this interpersonal level children are exposed to violence.
It was a deliberate choice to study female parents, because mothers, who are still the ones who are primarily tasked with the daily care and upbringing of children, are most often mentioned as perpetrators of violence against children and therefore are the most important data source. In general, mothers are also relatively easier accessible in households. Furthermore, another important consideration is that it allows comparison with the ‘Multi Cluster Indicator Survey’ (MICS). In this worldwide study, which is also conducted nationally on a regular basis, data collection on children is also focused on the mother as primary data source. ‘Mother’ in this study is defined as: Biological or non-biological female caretaker of school aged children, in the age group 11-18 years. A multiple stratified sample was drawn of 600 mothers of whom 473 have been interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study population is distributed over 10 districts and mainly accessed through the schools and is randomly selected from the database with residential addresses of the students. The sample is representative, which allows a nationwide generalization of the results.
