Introduction:

Child maltreatment is a common psychological problem of children and adolescents around the world. Presence of various form of abuse can lead to other psychological and physical problems, so, it is necessary to identify which form of abuse is more likely to affect men and women.

Objective:

To analyze the differences observed in child maltreatment according to sex in Peruvian adolescents.

Method:

A cross-sectional, and quantitative and comparative approach study was carried out in the months of July and August 2022. A convenience sample of 1.376 adolescents who responded to a self-report on child abuse was analyzed. To compare both groups (men and women), the Mann-Whitney U-test for Bayesian independent samples was used.

Results:

Among the various forms of child maltreatment, only was found in favor and with high evidence as alternative hypothesis, the emotional maltreatment (BF10=190.38; δ=0.31; 95 % CI: 0.20-0.48). This difference was higher in females (M=8.28) compared to males (M=7.09). In emotional and physical neglect, strong evidence was reported for the null hypothesis. Robust Bayes factor analysis confirmed the same results.

Conclusions:

Emotional maltreatment occurs mostly in adolescent females, being the gender that requires more psychological support. In the other forms of maltreatment, no differences were found in correspondence with gender. Consequently, health professionals should consider the role of gender in emotional maltreatment, but should not neglect the other forms of child maltreatment, emphasizing the specific particularities of each case.

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