Further, children who witnessed intimate partner violence in their homes were at greater risk of entering abusive relationships in their adult years. The 1996 household survey indicated that “abusive men witnessed their fathers hitting their mothers at almost four times the rate of all men.” Likewise, the rate of abused women who saw their fathers hitting their mothers when they were children was significantly higher than the general population (Nelson & Zimmerman 1996: 27). The same survey indicated that while “nearly all Cambodians interviewed believe that hitting is a ‘bad’ behavior,” 67.5% of all people interviewed believed hitting a child was an appropriate disciplinary measure (50). Nelson and Zimmerman (1996) reported that common reasons for hitting a child included: quarrelling, being noisy, impolite to elders, neglecting chores, truancy, careless or break something, parental anger being taken out on the child, and “other” reasons (most commonly, stealing money to gamble) (Nelson & Zimmerman 1996: 52-53).
For example, a recent study in Kandal Stung Province revealed that over 75% of boys and over 59% of girls surveyed reported ever having been beat by their mothers. Additionally, over 68% of boys and over 32% of girls reported ever having been beat by their fathers. However, the survey's application was limited by the use of "the generic term “hit” when asking about parental violence," making it impossible "to draw conclusions about the relative severity of the violence that mothers and fathers inflict on their children." (Fordham 2005: 49).
