Attitudes &; Awareness to Child Abuse: of 40 Greek second year university students and their parents and 40 Greek early school leavers and their parents in Melbourne

The phenomenon of child abuse was unexplored in Greece until the late 1970’s when the legal, social and medical professions became aware of the growing problem which resulted in the passing of a new law. Studies on child abuse are almost non-existent at present. Maroulis claimed that corporal punishment in the Greek culture can be perceived as an acceptable way of shaping a child’s behaviour. As yet there is very little, if any, research undertaken in Australia on Greek people and their awareness to child abuse. Masselos’s 1981 account of the Greek Community in Brisbane cites only three cases of child abuse as having occurred. This account cannot be viewed as indicating a low prevalence. Education is regarded as one of the essential factors in making people aware of the problem of child abuse and teaching them what the needs and the requirements of children are. Two of the three authors of the present study are from the Greek community, and were most concerned to ascertain the sensitivity to child abuse in the largest ethnic community in Melbourne. This study was undertaken in the year of the campaign “When Love is Not Enough” was launched, 1982. In this study 240 subjects, 40 Greek second year university students and their parents and 40 Greek early school leavers and their parents were given a questionnaire to fill out. The questionnaire contained questions of awareness, attitudes and opinions to child abuse. The aim was to see whether these selected samples of Greek people in Victoria were aware of the problem of child abuse.