The first-ever study into child abuse in China suggests it is widespread, with children raped, molested and bullied, state media said yesterday.
The study over two months on 3,500 college students in five provinces and one municipality, found 9.7 percent of boys and 13.5 percent of girls had been molested.
Sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Peking University, it also said that 1.7 percent of boys questioned and 2.1 percent of girls had been raped.
In addition, the survey found 54.6 percent of boys and 32.6 percent of girls had been bullied, or endured some sort of violence.
A Peking University researcher was cited by the China Daily as saying that the level of abuse had a lasting and damaging impact on children's mental health.
"The study shows there is a clear association between a history of child maltreatment and mental health," he said.
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