Public school principals' knowledge and attitude toward child abuse in relationship to their frequency of reporting suspected cases of child abuse

Abstract

This study analyzed the relationship of public school principals' knowledge and attitude toward child abuse with their frequency of reporting. The sample was 300 randomly selected public school principals from the state of Wisconsin. The Child Abuse Questionnaire was designed for this research which consisted of 37 questions. A Pearson r showed a relationship that was significant at the .05 level for elementary principals' knowledge of child abuse with frequency of reporting as well as their knowledge of suspected cases with frequency of reporting. The more cases they suspected, the fewer they reported. A significant relationship was indicated between junior high/middle school principals' attitude toward child abuse with frequency of reporting. High school principals' knowledge of suspected cases with frequency of reporting was also found significant. The more cases they suspected, the fewer they reported. Enthusiasm for this study was demonstrated by a 58.8% response to this mailed survey.