Risk and Protective Factors of Abuse and Violence Across the Lifespan and Policy Responses

Abstract

A series of recent tragic deaths of children from severe child abuse has sparked the wide public discourse on the need to better protect the weak and vulnerable in South Korea. The existing literature on abuse and violence address this issue in a fragmented manner as they concern only specific groups, such as children, women, and the elderly. No previous study has looked into a comprehensive range of risk and protective factors involved in abuse that occurs repeatedly at various stages of an individual’s life-cycle. Abuse and violence can take place repeatedly, with overlapping and interacting factors, at various stages of human development. It is important to approach the major factors repeated across one’s life-cycle from a comprehensive perspective. This study provides a wide-ranging understanding of abuse that affects various groups of people and the risk and protective factors affecting infants and toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, and seniors, with a view to identifying more effective policy responses to prevent it and stop it when it occurs.