Minh T.H. Le, Sara Holton, Huong Thanh Nguyen, Rory Wolfe, Jane Fisher (2015) Prevalence of Poly-Victimisation among Vietnamese High School Students

Although there are more than 30 million children and adolescents in Vietnam, and they account for more than a third of the nation’s population [32], there is limited evidence about poly-victimisation among them. Most previous studies in Vietnam only investigated specific forms of victimisation. The UNICEF Multi Indicator Cluster Survey 3, investigated mothers aged 15–49 years about their care of their under-five year old children and the children's health and development. Conducted in fifty low and middle income countries, it found that Vietnam was among the countries in which corporal punishment and psychological and physical abuse of children were the most prevalent [33]. Nguyen et al [18] investigated 2,581 grade 6–12 students in Vietnam and found that 67% reported at least one form and 6% all four forms of neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

This is the first study in Vietnam to investigate poly-victimisation among adolescents systematically and comprehensively.

Victimisation was widespread in this sample of high school students with nearly a third having experienced more than ten forms of victimisation.

There were much higher rates of lifetime victimisation among these Vietnamese adolescents than among secondary school students from China [29] and South Africa [31], which are upper-middle income countries. Compared to China—a country which shares many social and cultural similarities with Vietnam, the prevalence was double that reported by Chan [29]. The same conclusion can be made when the results are compared with those reported from high income countries. The prevalence of poly-victimisation in this sample (31%) is much higher than that reported among Australian 23-24-year-old young adults (14%) [3] and triple that reported by Turner et al (10%) among a national sample of American children and adolescents [22, 45]

Exposure to more adverse life events, the presence of a chronic disease or disability, living with a step-parent, perception of family as unhappy, punishment at school and rural residence increased the risk of poly-victimisation when controlling for other variables in this [study's] sample.

Minh T.H. Le, Sara Holton, Huong Thanh Nguyen, Rory Wolfe, Jane Fisher (2015) Poly-Victimisation among Vietnamese High School Students: Prevalence and Demographic Correlates, PLoS ONE 10 (5)

Truong Huyen Chi (2009) Child work as voluntary

'Knowing that their parents are working hard for better days for their family, youths take upon themselves an obligation to share the load. The mutual love, moral indebtedness, willingness to share the hardship, and pay back their debt is strongly felt by Dong Vang children and are not simply expressions of filial piety ascribed in a moral model. Rather, these emotions are the moral expectations young people take upon themselves; they have, pace Bourdieu, been internalized and naturalized. Taylor's concept of social imaginary helps explain the tension between the articulation and materialization of the contrasting experiences of Dong Vang children. Their hard work, overwork at times, and feelings towards their parents are consistently cast in overwhelmingly affectionate terms that overshadow any hint of 'abuse' or 'exploitation'.'

Truong Huyen Chi (2009) A home divided: work, body, and emotions in the post-Doi Moi family Link

Linda Murray (2012) Link between poverty and postnatal depression in Central Vietnam

'[This study finds] [b]eing classed as poor was significantly associated with both higher [Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale] scores and lower wellbeing ([World Health Organisation Wellbeing Scale] score) in multivariable general linear models. Being classed as poor has also significantly associated with maternal mental health disorders in studies in the North and South of Vietnam (Fisher et al. 2004; Fisher et al. 2010). A large community based study of 2000 adults in Hue city also found an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and depression (V. D. K. Doan 2011).

... Qualitative phases of the study elucidated the reasons women thought socioeconomic status was important to maternal health... In-depth interviews revealed women were acutely aware of small differences in socioeconomic status between members of their community. Also, they worried about having enough money to bring up their children 'the same as other people.' As one mother quoted 'I have to earn money to bring up my child as equal to other people.''

Linda Murray (2012) PhD thesis: Postnatal Depression in Central Vietnam Link

Caine Rolleston and Sofya Krutikova (2014) Gap in access to well-resourced schools and social selection in schooling

'Very large differences are observed between the most and least advantaged [Grade 5] pupils in terms of access to computers, calculators and the internet, ownership of a study desk/chair/lamp and on whether pupils have their own place to study or have more than ten books (other than school books) at home... Disadvantaged pupils are not found to be in schools with less experienced principals, principals who had received less in-service training or schools which were closed for more days as a result of unforeseen circumstances. They are, however, found to be in schools which receive fewer inspection visits, have lower assets overall and which are more likely to have ‘failing infrastructure’. Differences by home advantage emerge more strongly when going beyond ‘minimum standards’ to more nuanced measures ... Most notably, disadvantaged pupils are considerably less likely to be in schools with libraries, computer facilities, internet accessible to pupils and principals educated to university degree level or who had been awarded the status of ‘excellent teacher’.'

'[D]isadvantaged pupils tended to have lower achieving and more disadvantaged class-peers. In line with this trend, large differences in favour of more advantaged pupils were also found in peers’ opportunities to learn outside school, including use of computers outside school, hours of extra classes attended and ownership of learning materials.'

Caine Rolleston and Sofya Krutikova (2014) Equalising opportunity? School quality and home disadvantage in Vietnam Link

World Bank (2013) Rich - poor gap in early childhood development

'Much of the inequality in learning outcomes between different types of young Vietnamese observed in primary education and beyond is already established before the age of formal schooling.'

'Almost a quarter of Vietnamese children below the age of 5 are stunted (GSO and UNICEF, 2011), Apart from poverty, child malnutrition can be explained by inadequate infant and young child feeding practices, including low rates of breastfeeding. In Vietnam and around the world, stunting has been found to strongly negatively affect cognitive skills development (Le Thuc Duc, 2009). Some stunted children remain behind their peers for the rest of their lives.'

'The brain development of young children is highly sensitive to stimulation and interaction. The more parents and care-givers interact with a young child, for example through talking, singing or reading, the better are the conditions for brain development. However, evidence shows that in Vietnam young children from the poorest households receive less stimulation from their parents than children from the wealthiest ones. This implies that during these early years in which children's brains are the most sensitive to interactions and learning, children from poor households are not receiving the investments that they need and are already falling behind children from wealthier households.'

World Bank (2013) Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the workforce for a modern market economy Link