This study aims to investigate the mediating role of child self-esteem in the relationship between parental abuse and children’s human rights attitude, while exploring the moderating effect of children’s participation in human rights education on these associations. Using data from 2020 Children and Youth Human Rights Survey ( N = 5,673 students, 50% female, mean age = 15.53), we conducted structural equation modeling to assess the conceptual model’s validity. Parental abuse showed a negative relationship with human rights attitude. For children not participating in human rights education, self-esteem acted as a partial mediator, while for participating children, self-esteem served as a full mediator. Paradoxically, human rights education may be linked to lower self-esteem in certain groups of children. The magnitude of the negative association between parental abuse and self-esteem was stronger for those who participated in human rights education compared to those who did not. This implies that the psychological well-being maintained through dysfunctional protective systems may momentarily crumble when faced with contradictory information. These compelling findings furnish valuable perspectives on the significance of equipping children with knowledge and principles related to human rights, a crucial aspect in molding their outlooks, coping mechanisms, and fortitude when confronted with challenging situations. Based on these results, the importance of human rights education and the need for careful composition of human rights education content for abused children were discussed.

中文翻译：

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人权教育的调节作用：审视父母虐待、儿童自尊与人权态度之间的关系


本研究旨在探讨儿童自尊在父母虐待与儿童人权态度关系中的中介作用，同时探讨儿童参与人权教育对这些关联的调节作用。利用 2020 年儿童和青少年人权调查的数据（N = 5,673 名学生，50% 女性，平均年龄 = 15.53），我们进行了结构方程模型来评估概念模型的有效性。父母虐待与人权态度呈负相关。对于未参与人权教育的儿童，自尊起到部分中介作用，而对于参与人权教育的儿童，自尊起到完全中介作用。矛盾的是，人权教育可能与某些儿童群体的自尊心较低有关。与未参加人权教育的人相比，参加人权教育的人遭受父母虐待与自尊之间的负相关程度更大。这意味着，当面对矛盾的信息时，通过功能失调的保护系统维持的心理健康可能会暂时崩溃。这些令人信服的发现为赋予儿童人权相关知识和原则的重要性提供了宝贵的视角，这是塑造他们在面临挑战时的观点、应对机制和毅力的关键方面。基于这些结果，讨论了人权教育的重要性以及精心构建受虐儿童人权教育内容的必要性。