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Women and Children At Risk: A Feminist Perspective on Child Abuse
Abstract
Viewing child abuse through the prism of woman battering reveals that both problems originate in conflicts over gender identity and male authority. Data indicate that men, not women, typically commit serious child abuse. A study of the mothers of child abuse victims shows that battering is the most common context for child abuse, that the battering male is the typical child abuser, that the battered mothers have no distinctive pathology in their backgrounds, and that clinicians respond punitively to the battered mothers. The child abuse establishment assigns responsibility for abuse to mothers regardless of who assaults the child, and responds punitively to women, withholding vital resources and often removing the child to foster care, if women are battered or otherwise fail to meet expectations of "good mothering." The combination of male control, misleading psychological knowledge about women's propensity for "bonding," and sanctions used to enforce gender stereotypes of motherhood combine to increase the entrapment and inequality from which battering and child abuse originate, a process termed "patriarchal mothering." The best way to prevent child abuse is through "female empowerment."
... La manifestación de la violencia doméstica pueden demostrar los valores obtenidos durante la vida y el nivel cultural que tiene el sujeto (Lorente, 2001). La violencia desatada contra la mujer es un fenómeno pandémico, que ha ido creciendo aceleradamente al pasar de los años; algunas investigaciones de varios autores suponen que este tipo de violencia ha crecido más rápido que el incremento en las tasas de accidentes de tránsito, abusos y agresiones sexuales y delincuencia como robos (Stark y Flitcraft, 1988). Por tanto, se puede definir a la violencia doméstica cómo un atentado contra la integridad de una persona, donde el agresor bien puede ser: la pareja sentimental, el esposo, el amante, o alguien allegado a la víctima; la control sobre la víctima, otro factor de importancia es el tener una procedencia de una familia abusiva; también, el introyectar sentimientos de frustración, estrés, inutilidad. ...
... We use the term "perspective" to represent explanations of CM and CPA that are not well-developed models or theories, but are essentially the lens through which an author attempts to understand CPA. A perspective provides a framework that functions to define what might be included in an explanation of CPA (e.g., a psychiatric perspective, Kempe et al., 1962;a neuropsychological perspective, Elliott, 1988; a feminist perspective, Stark & Filtcraft, 1988). In contrast, models and theories provide more specificity as to the causes of CPA. ...
Child physical abuse (CPA) is a pervasive societal problem with serious outcomes. Understanding CPA risk factors is necessary to identify those at risk for CPA perpetration and to inform efforts to prevent the occurrence of CPA. The present study provides an updated review of conceptual models of CPA, a review of model-related CPA risk factors, and a meta-analytic review of CPA risk factors found in cross-sectional, case-controlled studies. The review of conceptual models yielded >70 explanatory models of CPA from which >140 putative CPA risk factors were extracted. A three-level random-effects meta-analysis of CPA risk factors was conducted. Database and literature searches yielded 58 studies that met the inclusion criteria from which 300 effect size (ES) estimates were identified. In the meta-analysis, 292 ESs were placed into 38 CPA risk factor domains. Twenty significant individual CPA risk factor domain ES estimates and five significant relationship CPA risk factor domain ESs were found. Future studies that simultaneously consider CPA risk and protective factors from within and between ecological levels and that establish causal CPA factors are needed to better inform CPA prevention and treatment efforts.
... They also have more gynaecological and obstetrical disorders (Silverman et al., 2006). They have more encounters with health professionals and use more medication than women who do not endure IPV (Stark & Flitcraft, 1988). ...
It is unknown how many women seeking care at French Family Planning Centres (FPCs) endure, or have endured intimate partner violence (IPV). To assess the prevalence of IPV, we surveyed women seeking care at three FPCs in the metropolitan Paris area (Seine‐Saint‐Denis). We examined the associations between IPV, socio‐demographic characteristics and perceptions of health according to six indicators. Of the FPCs included in our survey, two are standalone facilities and one is located in The Women's Home, a multidisciplinary structure dedicated to serving survivors of violence. We conducted an observational survey from December 2018 to February 2019. All women aged 18 years and older were eligible. We solicited data on socio‐demographic factors, general stability and history of violence. We measured health status on a 10‐point scale for six different symptoms. Of the 274 women who participated, 27% had experienced IPV. Women who reported experiencing, or having experienced IPV were more likely to be between 25 and 44 years old (than under 25), temporarily documented or undocumented, unemployed or seeking employment, and experiencing housing insecurity. Women seeking care at The Women's House were more than twice as likely to report IPV (42%) than those visiting FPC‐2 or FPC‐3 (20% and 16%, respectively). Reports of violence increase among women with uncertain legal status, housing, employment and lower self‐rated health. Results suggest that a FPC located in a structure specifically dedicated to serving women victims‐survivors of violence like the Women's House may be more attractive to survivors.
... Whether parenthood becomes a repetition of the past in the present [44] is increasingly determined by additional external factors, which contribute to the development of violent behavior amongst parents. Thus, this notion is not without criticism as some researchers [45] argue that most people who experience abuse in childhood do not proceed to abuse their children. In contrast, advocates of this theory suggest that when abused children become parents themselves, they tend to model their parenting behavior on what they observed and learned as children. ...
Experiencing adversities has been associated with the use of violence but this has not been explored with filicide offenders in South Africa. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 parents/stepparents/caregivers convicted of child homicide in South Africa, resulting in 49 in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed by means of grounded theory. Using an ecological framework, this study alludes to the widespread and cumulative nature of violence and trauma experiences within multiple domains of the participants’ lives. The study highlighted the absence of support in the aftermath of experiencing trauma, possibly resulting in these parents lacking resources to mitigate the sequelae of adverse experiences. This study calls for trauma related, mental health components to be integrated into violence interventions and for these to address the impact of trauma at the individual, family, and societal levels, to prevent the transition from victim to offender.
... Las victimas también corren el riesgo de acudir a las sustancias psicoactivas, abuso de fármacos, abuso y dependencia del alcohol, intentos suicidas, intentos o asesinato a su agresor sea por defensa propia o por miedo, en situación incontenible de indefensión y de desesperanza, (Eberle, 1982;Walker, 1984;Browne, 1987;Daly y Wilson, 1988;Stark y Flitcraft, 1988;Mann, 1990;Straus y Gelles, 1990;Jurik y Winn, 1990;Anthony y Helzer, 1991;Dutton 1992;Kessler, et al. 1994;Kessler et al., 1994;Walker, 1994;Campbell, 1995;Torres y Espada, 1996;Roberts,1996;Valenciana 1997;Kessler 2003, Echeburúa y Corral, 1998Cerezo, 1998;Golding, 1999;Hattendorf, Ottens y Lomax, 1999;Clark y Foy, 2000;Cerezo, 2000;Susan Rees, Derrick Silove, Tien Che, MAppStat, Lorraine Ivancic, et al, 2011). ...
Resumen: El feminicidio es considerado como un evento cruel que atenta contra los derechos e integridad física de las mujeres a nivel mundial, detrás feminicidio se genera una serie amplia de consecuencias negativas que se desarrollan y enfrentan de forma directa a víctima, victimario, hijos y familiares, este trabajo de investigación ayuda a comprender y permite reunir las consecuencias del feminicidio desde los diferentes puntos de vista. Este trabajo busca determinar el impacto psicológico, biológico y social que desencadena la problemática del feminicidio desde las perspectivas de la víctima, victimario y familiares que afrontan este evento. Abstract: Feminicide is one of the most malignant human acts that go against human rights and women physical integrity worldwide. Behind feminicide there is a variety of negatives consequences that develop and affects straight victims, aggressors, children and family. This research attempts to broaden our understanding of feminicide consequences from different points of view. This article analizes psychological, biological and social impact that surround the feminicide problematic from the victims, aggressors and relatives who face the event. approaches the issue from psychological, biological and social consequences resulted from feminicide.
... It is possible that the male-parent/partner perpetrated both partner violence and child maltreatment. Although our measures did not show which parent has perpetrated the maltreatment, a body of research has suggested that physical and sexual child maltreatments are mostly frequently perpetrated by fathers (Dixon, Hamilton-Giachritsis, Browne, & Ostapuik, 2007;Stark & Flitcraft, 1988). The higher rates of sexual abuse of female offspring in families with maternal IPV and the confounding effect of father's mental health might support the suggestion of father perpetration. ...
There is some limited evidence of an association between maternal intimate partner victimization (IPV) and children's experience of maltreatment. Using data from a longitudinal study, we examine whether this relationship is independent of range of potential confounders including socio-economic, familial and psychological factors. Data were taken from the 14 and 30-year follow-ups of the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP) in Australia. A subsample of 2064 mothers and children (59.0% female) whose data on maternal IPV and child maltreatment was available, were analysed. In families with maternal IPV, two in five children reported being maltreated, compared to one in five children maltreated in families without maternal IPV. Except for sexual maltreatment which was consistently higher in female offspring, there was no gender differences in experiencing different types of maltreatment in families manifesting maternal IPV. Although both males and females were at increased risk of child maltreatment in families where mothers were victimized by their male partners, male children were more likely to be emotionally maltreated. The main associations were substantially independent of measured confounders, except for father's history of mental health problems which attenuated the association of maternal IPV victimization and male offspring's physical abuse. Our findings confirm that there is a robust association between maternal IPV and child maltreatment. Both maternal IPV victimization and child maltreatment co-occur in a household characterized by conflict and violence. Consequences of IPV go beyond the incident and influence all family members. Efforts to reduce child maltreatment may need to address the greater level of IPV associated with the cycle of family violence.
... Feminist theories provide a lens through which differential power relations within and across human service organizations, such as the child welfare system, can be observed and better understood (Stark and Flitcraft 1988). Two feminist perspectives, intersectionality and standpoint theory, are considered in further framing the general approach to the dissertation research, the methods used, and the subsequent data analysis. ...
This study incorporated a feminist approach to the use of multiple qualitative methods by conducting participant observation, focus group interviewing, and in-depth interviewing of women and men affiliated with a diverse representation of human service organizations. An applied research partnership with a multi-county human service organization provided entrée to the study population. Through analytic induction using a grounded theoretical approach the study explored perceptions of power, authority, gender, inequality, and bureaucratic constraints that emerged during organizational processes of interagency collaboration among multidisciplinary human service organizations (Charmaz 2014; Corbin and Strauss 2014). Findings indicate that establishing relationships is critical for interagency collaboration to be effective; however, the lived experience of interagency collaboration is that ethics of care and care work are constrained by gendered power dynamics, primarily ethics of justice embedded in bureaucratically-structured human service organizations situated within a plurality of complexities. Further, tensions between bureaucracy and ethics of care are enacted through relative, subjective, and exclusionary forms of gendered and other types of intersectionally-situated bureaucratic power.
... A UK study found a very high prevalence of psychological difficulties and health needs in a sample of children in refuges (Shankleman et al., 2001). Children who witness and/or directly experience abuse may exhibit a range of behavioural symptoms including sleep disturbances, poor performance at school, emotional detachment, stammering, suicide attempts, aggression and disruptive behaviour (McWilliams and McKiernan, 1993;Stark and Flitcraft, 1988;Knapp, 1998;Shankleman et al., 2001). They may learn to accept violence as an appropriate method of conflict resolution in adult relationships and go on to repeat these patterns in adulthood (Rosenberg and Rossman, 1990). ...
This report is one of a series of reports, which specifically reports on the findings from the evaluation of a number of domestic violence projects. The report aims to explore the health service contribution to tackling domestic violence, and draws upon the findings from four projects, which had developed and implemented interventions within a number of health settings. It places the findings from these projects in the context of the literature.<br /
... The existence of a direct link between domestic abuse and child abuse has been well documented since the 1980s (Truesdell et al., 1986;Stark and Flitcraft, 1988). According to Saunders (2003), where child abuse occurs within the context of domestic violence children often experience a mixture of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. ...
... Patriarchy remains synonymous with 'sexism' and male supremacy, which militates against any equality of status or partnership between the sexes. The term 'patriarchal mothering' is based on the assumption that the parenting role needs 'support' and that the 'family unit' has dissolved into a structure of pathology that must somehow be managed by state intervention if its protective functions are to be restored (Stark and Flitcraft, 1988). Several writers have catalogued the shift from a socio-medical to a socio-legal basis in child protection in recent years to reflect this, and they have described this shift as 'legalism' (Parton and Martin, 1989) and 'legal imperialism' (Dingwall, 1991). ...
There have been a great many protracted and heated debates about the practice of state intervention and control of family life in recent years. Indeed, the Children Act (1989) was drafted after the Cleveland Inquiry highlighted the lack of consulation with parents and the lasting effects of ill-considered intrusion into family life, and embraced the philosophy of partnership. Social workers operating in the child care and child protection areas need to balance the contradictory notions of paternalism and partnership, in the knowledge that they will be pilloried by the popular press when they get it wrong. This paper attempts to contrast the two concepts in their philosophical and social work contexts, and moves on to recommend frameworks for helping to balance them when they are operationalized. It is essential to consider this particular debate in the wider political and economic contexts, particularly where uncertainty and the lack of resources are ever-present features.
... Ponadto wyniki badań wskazują, iż osoby, które doświadczyły przemocy w dzieciństwie z większym prawdopodobieństwem w dorosłości wiążą się z partnerami stosującymi przemoc (Fantuzzo i in. 1997;Ross 1996;Stark, Flitcraft 1988;Tajima 2000), co stanowi dodatkowy czynnik zwiększający ryzyko doświadczenia przemocy przez dziecko. ...
Krzywdzenie dzieci jest zjawiskiem o złożonych i różnorodnych uwarunkowaniach. Starając się wyjaśnić
jego etiologię nie sposób wymienić wszystkich możliwych czynników ani mechanizmów je warunkujących.
Poza czynnikami ryzyka brać należy pod uwagę także występowanie czynników ochronnych, które w wielu wypadkach mogą równoważyć obciążający wpływ stresorów. Niniejszy artykuł koncentruje się przede wszystkim na czynnikach ryzyka krzywdzenia dzieci. Stanowi on próbę ich systematyzacji zgodnie z ekologicznym modelem funkcjonowania człowieka, a także próbę opisu mechanizmów ich oddziaływania na sytuację dziecka.
... Although preliminary, the standardized format of this program was able to accommodate (i) clinical heterogeneity across the life-span (in utero to late adulthood), (ii) a broad spectrum of family constellations, (iii) multiple and unexpected changes in residential placement of target victim(s), (iv) disparate developmental, intellectual, educational, cultural, and socio-economic levels, (v) various types and severity levels of abuse, and (vi) multiple perpetrators and victims of maltreatment. The latter accommodation oers particular promise as siblings of identi®ed maltreated children, and other family members in the home, are sometimes abused and in need of treatment (Carroll, 1994;McKernan-McKay, 1994;Stark & Flitcraft, 1988). ...
Victims of child maltreatment and their families evince a myriad of behavioral problems, including de®cits in parenting skills, social skills, safety skills, anger, stress, and ®nancial management, mood disorders, and abusive behavior. Controlled treatment outcome studies in child maltreated samples have indicated that many of these problems are responsive to clinical intervention strategies. However, empirically based practitioners who treat child maltreatment are faced with the inevitable task of eectively integrating these treatments into their clinical programs. Therefore, this paper describes the development of an ecobehavioral treatment program for child maltreatment that is founded on a comprehensive integration of previously validated procedures. The program's development, and methods of assessment and intervention, will be underscored, including therapist training strategies, and solutions to problems that sometimes occur. Data in support of the program is examined, but primarily as a means to demonstrate how evaluative components may be utilized in practice settings to guide intervention.
... Awareness of domestic violence as a child welfare concern has grown significantly in recent years, resulting in changes to policy and practice in the United Kingdom and other countries. The risks for children-physically, emotionally, psychologically, and developmentally-associated with exposure to domestic violence are well established, both in relation to the links between domestic violence and child abuse (e.g., Bowker,1 University of Bath, UK Arbitell, & McFerron, 1988;Farmer & Owen, 1995;Hester & Pearson, 1998;Stark & Flitcraft, 1988) and the detrimental impacts of being witness to, or aware of, one parent's violence against another (e.g., Abrahams, 1994;Edleson, 1999;Harold & Howarth, 2004;Holden, Geffner, & Jouriles, 1998;Jaffe, Wolfe, & Wilson, 1990;Wolfe, Crooks, Lee, McIntyre-Smith, & Jaffe, 2003). The potential risk of harm for children exposed to domestic violence has been recognized in statute in England and Wales by Section 120 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, which extends the definition of "significant harm" (Children Act 1989 s.31) to include "impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another." ...
Despite improved understanding regarding domestic violence, child welfare and child contact, and related policy developments, problems persist regarding how the family courts deal with fathers' violence in contested contact/residence cases. In the study reported here, analysis was undertaken of welfare reports prepared for the courts in such cases to investigate how and to what extent issues of domestic violence and children's perspectives on these issues were taken into account when making recommendations to the courts. Analysis found that despite evidence of domestic violence and child welfare concerns, contact with fathers was viewed as desirable and inevitable in the vast majority of cases.
... Moreover, according to Edleson (1999b), the co-occurring violence found to exist in these studies have ranged from a low of 6.5% to a high of 97%, with a majority of studies having a 30 to 60% overlap. Stark and Flitcraft (1988) explored the issue of dual violence in homes, by reviewing hospital records of children suspected of being victims of child maltreatment. ...
... Department of Justice, 1999). The relationship between spousal abuse and the physical or sexual abuse of children in the home is now documented to reach 30% to 70% (Bowker, Arbitell & McFerron, 1988;Stark & Flitcraft, 1988;Suh & Abel, 1990). ...
Each year more than five million children in the United States are exposed
to traumatizing events in their communities. This paper presents a discussion of
multiple areas in violence and victimization research that needs to be continued as
well as provides suggestions on how to un-silence child survivors through bridging
the gaps between research and practice. It reviews the overarching problem of violence
in the U.S. at the domestic and global levels and the effects of victimization.
Suggestions on how to study possible mediators and moderators of victimization
and individual and family adjustment, including: 1) The ecological perspective; 2)
Court process and verdict; and 3)Utilization of victim services, are explored. Finally,
a rationale and examples of combining qualitative and quantitative methods in
future research that uses children’s attributions of violence as a mediator are presented.
... Few studies have focused specifically on the extent to which both forms of violence occur in families; however, the examination of child maltreatment case records found that from 26% (Child Welfare Partnership, 1996) to 32.5% (Hangen, 1994) of cases included indications of adult domestic violence. A study of suspected child abuse and neglect cases at a major hospital found that in 45% of the cases, mothers' medical records indicated some evidence of battering (Stark & Flitcraft, 1988). Studies exploring the prevalence of child abuse among families with known battering, estimate that from 40% (Suh & Abel, 1990) to 50% (Straus & Gelles, 1990) of batterers also abuse their children. ...
The problems of child maltreatment and violence against women have traditionally been viewed and treated as two distinct issues. In response to these two forms of family violence, two separate service systems with different approaches to prevention, treatment and intervention have developed. This article outlines sources of conflicts between child protection workers and battered women's advocates, and elaborates on these conflicts using child protection workers' and battered women's advocates' own words elicited in a series of focus groups. Models of cross-system collaboration in the United States are then described, and recommendations are made for practice and policy which support collaboration across systems.
Childhood maltreatment is associated with an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young adults. In contrast, self-compassion is linked to better mental health and healthier lifestyle choices, which may reduce loneliness and lower suicide risk. This study aimed to explore the relationship among childhood maltreatment, self-compassion, and suicidal ideation of young adults in Bangladesh. The study included 250 young adults from four public universities in three different regions of Bangladesh, consisting of 124 males and 126 females. A cross-sectional study was conducted with convenience sampling for participant selection. Data were collected using the adapted Bangla versions of the Comprehensive Child Maltreatment Scale for Adults, the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation, and the Self-Compassion Scale. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, the independent samples t-test, and the Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient. The findings revealed that all forms of childhood maltreatment were significantly negatively correlated with self-compassion. Each subscale of maltreatment also showed significant positive correlations with suicidal ideation, along with notable intercorrelations among the maltreatment subscales. Furthermore, females had significantly lower self-compassion and higher childhood maltreatment scores compared to males, particularly in neglect and witnessing family violence and sexual abuse. Psychological maltreatment scores did not differ by gender. The findings may help shed light on the harmful effects of maltreatment and aid in developing prevention and intervention strategies.
O presente trabalho teve como objetivo apresentar a problemática da violência doméstica e seus reflexos com recorte na vítima da mulher-mãe e do desenvolvimento e formação da personalidade de criança. Evidencia-se o contexto histórico sobre o qual a violência se constrói desde o período colonial até os dias atuais, colocando a mulher na posição de um ser desprovido de direitos, soma-se a isso a visão dos impactos sofridos pela criança ao estar exposta as diversas formas de violência, tornando-se uma vítima indireta. A metodologia utilizada foi a hipotética dedutiva, analisando a doutrina, o Direito positivado brasileira e a jurisprudência, com foco na Lei n° 11.340/2006, a Lei Maria da Penha, que coloca a violência doméstica como violadora dos Direitos Humanos e n° 8.069, o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente.
The study aimed to investigate the relationship of childhood adverse experience, self-compassion and suicidal ideation among young adults in Bangladesh. A cross sectional study was conducted on 120 young adults from two public universities in Dhaka city. Among them, 61 were male and 59 were female. Participants were selected by convenient sampling technique and data were collected by using Adapted Bangla Version of Comprehensive Child Maltreatment Scale (CCMS) for Adults (Ferdous, Roy, & Islam, 2020), Bangla Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSS) (Uddin et al., 2013), and Adapted Bangla Version of Self-Compassion Scale (Habib & Naher, 2020). The obtained data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test and correlation. The findings reveal that all forms of childhood maltreatment: psychological maltreatment, physical abuse, witnessing family violence, neglect, and sexual abuse were significantly negatively correlated with self-compassion. Correlation for total maltreatment score and SCS was also significant (r = -.499, p < .01). Findings also reveal that each of the five subscales were significantly positively correlated with suicidal ideation. Moreover, there were significant positive inter-correlations among the five subscales of CCMS. The findings also reveal that there are significance gender differences of all forms of childhood maltreatment, self-compassion and suicidal ideation among young adults. The results were interpreted based on prior research. Findings of the research may help gaining insight about the harmful impact of maltreatment to develop appropriate preventive and intervention strategies.
Adolescent dating violence is a national public health issue and research suggests that aggressive parenting may predict the likelihood that a child will subsequently experience abuse. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of parent physical and psychological aggression on adolescent dating violence perpetration and victimization. Data derived from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study resulted in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of adolescents in dating relationships at the age of 15 years (N = 952). Utilizing both parent and adolescent data which assessed parenting practices at ages 3, 5, 9, and 15, and adolescent dating violence victimization and perpetration at age 15, we analyzed the data using a latest class analysis. Youth were typologized into three classes: the non-physically aggressive parenting, nonaggressive dating class (Class 1; 16% of youth), the aggressive parenting, nonaggressive dating class (Class 2; 76% of youth), and the aggressive parenting, aggressive dating class (Class 3; 8% of youth). Parents across all three classes utilized high levels of psychologically aggressive parenting. An important finding from this study is that parents’ use of both physically and psychologically aggressive parenting only predicted subsequent dating violence victimization and perpetration among a small portion of adolescents. Findings suggest that additional risk factors, including household income and adolescent impulsivity, may help to elucidate pathways to adolescent dating violence. There is also a need to further explore the resiliency factors at play for youth who, despite having experienced both psychologically and physically aggressive parenting across the lifespan, did not experience dating violence victimization or perpetration.
z Sosyal problemleri feminist perspektiften ele almak daha adil ve eşitlikçi toplumların oluşmasında, problemlerin bilinmeyen yönlerinin ve içerdiği güç ilişkilerinin gün yüzüne çıkarılarak mikro ve makro düzeylerde farkındalık oluşturmasında önemli bir adımdır. Bir sorunun feminist düzlemde yeniden okunması, başlangıç noktasının kadınlar olmasını ve ataerkil, baskıcı ve hiyerarşik ilişkilerin yarattığı tüm olumsuzlukların ele alınmasını elzem kılar. Sosyal hizmetin baskı karşıtı, güçlendirici ve özgürleştirici paradigmaları feminist teorinin felsefesi ve argümanları ile paralellik göstermektedir. Bu çalışma karmaşıklık ve gizlilikle karakterize olan ve de birçok toplumda farklı dinamiklerle de olsa benzer şekilde tezahür bulan cinsel istismar sorununu feminist perspektiften ele almayı amaçlamıştır. Çalışma bu kapsamda literatür taraması yoluyla feminist teori, sosyal hizmet ve cinsel istismar arasındaki ilişkiye dikkat çekerek, cinsel istismara maruz bırakılan çocuklar ve aileleri ile gerçekleştirilecek mikro, mezzo ve makro düzeylerdeki sosyal hizmet müdahalelerine ilişkin feminist bakış açısı kazandırmayı ve feminist yaklaşımın uygulamalarda nasıl olabileceğine ilişkin önerilerde bulunmayı ve uygulayıcılara tartışma sunmayı amaçlamıştır. Anahtar kelimeler: Feminizm, Feminist perspektif, Cinsel istismar, Sosyal hizmet. Abstract Addressing social problems from a feminist perspective is an important step in creating more just and equitable societies, bringing to light the unknown aspects of the problems and their power relations and raising awareness at micro and macro levels. Rereading a question on a feminist level makes it essential for women to be the starting point and to address all the negativities created by patriarchal, oppressive and hierarchical relationships. The anti-coercive, empowering and emancipatory paradigms of social work are parallel to the philosophy and arguments of feminist theory. This study aimed to address the problem of sexual abuse from a feminist perspective, whose complexity and discretion are intertwined and manifested similarly, albeit with different dynamics, in many societies. In this context, the study draws attention to the relationship between feminist theory, social work and sexual abuse through the literature review, and offers suggestions on how to gain a feminist perspective on micro, mezzo and macro-level social work interventions with children and their families who have been subjected to sexual abuse and how feminist approach can be in practice and to present discussion to practitioners.
Purpose
This paper aims to examine operational policing practice and child abuse. The paper acknowledges the influence second-wave feminism has had on police practice in terms of recognising and addressing this crime type. However, child abuse is mostly considered within the context of a single incident, with those children who suffer repeat and poly-victimisation being overlooked. As a consequence, the application of intersectionality as a theoretical framework to underpin practice is considered.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a case study approach. By doing so, an examination of operational policing practice with regard to child abuse takes place.
Findings
Feminism, as a theoretical framework, for informing practice has its limitations, in particular with regard to operational policing practice. This is illustrated through the crime type of child abuse. With the onset of work by scholars such as Finkelhor, the importance of recognising and dealing with those who suffer from repeat and multiple forms of victimisation has become apparent. As a consequence, the policing of repeat and poly-victimisation of child sexual abuse victims needs to be enhanced. Intersectionality is considered as being a theoretical framework that can inform police practice in this area of work.
Practical implications
The implications for practice are, namely, intersectionality has an important role to play in informing an understanding of child abuse. Intersectionality is an appropriate framework for the police to use to enhance their response to child abuse as the cornerstone of both Intersectionality and police practice is to redress unjust treatment. A targeted and consistent approach by police, education, health and community services to prevent child abuse informed by intersectionality. Building on the success of a number of police-led initiatives designed to address child abuse.
Originality/value
Much that is written about child abuse is typically done so through the lens of social work. This piece provides a timely reminder of the importance of policing in the prevention, disruption and reduction of this crime type. Further to this, the paper takes a novel approach by applying intersectionality not only as a means of understanding and addressing child abuse but as a means of informing police practice in dealing with the crime.
Homeless women experience extensive health risks including physical and sexual victimization. Few studies that have gathered information on homeless persons have reported results separately for women or have compared them directly with men. Research that both investigates antecedents of victimization among homeless women and compares them to those for men is necessary to determine whether prevention efforts must be different for each group. We investigated potential antecedents of recent (past 30 days) physical and sexual victimization in a probability sample of 394 homeless women and compared findings to those for 1159 homeless men. As hypothesized, mental disorder, substance dependence, and engaging in economic survival strategies significantly predicted victimization among homeless women. With few dissimilarities, these characteristics also predicted victimization among homeless men. Although differences in the needs and experiences of homeless women and men must be recognized, both women and men require assistance to establish and maintain safe residences, treatment of any substance use and mental disorder, and alternatives to economic survival strategies that place them at risk for victimization.
Çocuğa yönelik cinsel istismar tarihi uzun bir geçmişe sahiptir ve çocuk istismarı çerçevesinde
değerlendirilmesi 1970’lerde başlamıştır. Daha önceleri nadiren bildirilen vakalar, özellikle kadın
hareketinin yükselişi ile yetişkin kadınların çocukluk döneminde yaşadıkları istismarları ifşa etmeleri ile
çocuğa yönelik cinsel istismar, çocuk istismarı olarak değerlendirilmeye başlanmıştır. İnsanlık tarihinin
ilk zamanlarından bu yana süre gelen ve toplumsal bir sorun olan cinsel istismar suçunun mağduru
olarak çocuklar, toplum nezdinde “susması gereken, söz hakkı olmayan, güçsüz, yardıma muhtaç”
olarak tanımlanıp istismar mağduru olduğunda da yine “beyanı geçersiz olan, sözü dinlenilmeyen”
bireyler olarak sistematik bir mağduriyetin içine sürüklenmişlerdir. Türkiye’de cinsel istismar sıklığına
ilişkin herhangi bir resmi veri bulunmamakla birlikte literatür cinsel istismar mağduru olan çocukların
büyük çoğunluğunun kız çocukları olduğunu göstermektedir. Çocuklara ve ergenlere cinsel istismarda
bulunanların büyük bir kısmı erkek olup bu erkeklerin %85 ile %90’ı mağdurun tanıdığı, bildiği ve
güvendiği erkeklerden oluşmaktadır.
Radikal feminist hareket, tecavüz karşıtı hareketlerinin retoriğinden yola çıkarak, cinsel
istismarın tanımlayıcı alanını genişletmiş ve yeni bir istismar yaklaşımı ortaya koymuştur. Feministler,
cinsel istismara maruz kalan çocukların toplumun bir şekilde suç ortağı olarak hükmettiği bu fikri
sorgulamıştır. Çocuk cinselliğinin feminist söylemi temelde güç ve güçsüzlük sorununa dayanır.
Çocuğun güçsüzlüğü ve çocukların aydınlatılmış onam verememesi hakkındaki argümanlar 1980'lerden
bu yana sorunun analizini yapılandırmıştır.
Sosyal hizmette insan hakları perspektifini benimsemek, kolektivizmin bir aşaması olarak ve
kamu sektörü için güçlü bir rolü olan ideolojik bir konumda politik bir duruş gerektirir. Zamanla devlet
tarafından gerçekleştirilen işlerin bazıları küresel veya yerel seviyede uygulanmaktadır. Her iki durumda
da söz konusu çocuğun cinsel istismarı ise insan haklarının -özelde çocuk haklarının- tam anlamıyla
gerçekleştirilmesi ve geliştirilmesi için güçlü bir kolektivist yaklaşım gereklidir. Güç ilişkilerinin
belirlediği toplumsal yapıdaki cinsel istismar sorununa da insan hakları perspektifiyle bakılmalıdır ki
bunu tutkuyla yapan profesyoneller, şüphesiz sosyal çalışmacılar olmalıdır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Çocuk, Cinsel İstismar, Radikal Feminizm, Sosyal Hizmet.
Background. Suffering violence has both short- and long-term negative effects on women’s health. We set out to study the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of women attending three Family Planning Centers (FPCs) in France and the violence they experienced and to the association between women’s perception of their health status and their exposure to violence.
Methods. We conducted an observational survey of clinical practice from December 2018 to February 2019 at three FPCs in Seine-Saint-Denis (Ile-de-France). All women patients aged 18 years or older were eligible. We solicited data on social characteristics, precariousness, and suffering violence. We measured health status on a 10-point scales for six different symptoms.
Results. Of the 274 women who participated, 28% had experienced violence. This percentage was higher among women living in socially precarious situations compared to the not or slightly precarious (39.3% vs 15.8%, respectively). Experiencing violence was significantly associated with being between 25 and 44 years old, being in a temporary or irregular administrative situation, being unemployed or seeking a job, and being in a precarious to very precarious situation. The proportion of women reporting domestic violence was more than twice as high in those consulting in FPC-1 (42%) than in FPC-2 (20%) or FPC-3 (16.2%). Regardless of age, history of violence was significantly associated with poor sleep, poor diet, low morale, and poor health in general for all FPCs and all levels of precariousness.
Conclusion. Our study reveals that reports of violence against women increased with migratory status and precariousness, unemployment or job-seeking, and a poorer state perception of one’s own health in a population drawn from three Family Planning Centers in Seine-Saint-Denis. It also suggests a structure specifically dedicated to the management of women victim of violence that FPC-1, may be perceived more attractive by women exposed to domestic violence.
The study was retrospectively registered: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04304469
There is now increasing recognition that child abuse and domestic violence are not separate phenomena and ‘witnessing’ domestic violence can seriously affect children. This paper reports on a qualitative research project undertaken by researchers from the University of South Australia from June 1998 to January 1999, as part of the Commonwealth and States’ Partnerships Against Domestic Violence initiative. The focus of the research was on assessing the needs of women, men and young people who have experienced domestic violence in South Australia. The participants identified many ‘effects’ of witnessing or experiencing domestic violence on children, along with their needs. The findings will inform early intervention campaigns as well as broader service systems in supporting and responding to the needs of these young people.
In 1487, the Malleus Maleficarum was published by members of the Catholic Church in Germany as an authoritative guidebook on how to identify, question, and, ultimately, convict witches. Similarly, the DSM serves as an authoritative manual for identifying and classifying individuals who disturb, who defy social norms, and who are considered to be somehow different. These diagnostic categories, however, lack reliability and validity, result in assumptions and stereotypes that contribute to unhelpful and harmful practices, create an illusion of disease and difference where there is none, and provide a means of social control that may violate human rights for many. Anti-stigma campaigns advocate for decreasing prejudice and discrimination for those suffering emotional distress, yet the very paradigm upon which these campaigns, and the mental health field as a whole, is predicated may be the central culprit for this prejudice in the first place.
This chapter explores the intersectional complexity of the representation of abuse in the musical biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It. While the film critiques male coercive control and myths of popular romance it also re-objectifies the black female body and reinforces the stereotype of the violent black man.
This chapter examines how the conventions of the Gothic romance and the maternal melodrama in Dolores Claiborne foreground the systemic nature of women’s oppression and the abuser’s use of motherhood as a weapon, while ultimately offering female-female relationships and female violence as predictable solutions to abuse.
This chapter addressed several related topic areas that have a connection to the risk for child physical abuse, namely, corporal punishment, intimate partner violence, and disabilities or special health care needs. Each topic is briefly defined and then the connection to the risk for child physical abuse is explored noting the findings from several key articles and reports that provide the evidence to support or refute a connection to child physical abuse as well as a rationale for an approach to clinical practice around the specific topic.
This chapter explores the role of nursing in safeguarding children and young people (CYP), their working with other agencies such as education, social work and police and the policy that has influenced those practices. The role of the safeguarding children's nurse requires a sufficient seniority to provide strategic overview for each trust on the service provision necessary to ensure that children and young people's needs are met and comply with the current government guidance. The effectiveness of nurses in safeguarding of children and young people is dependent on robust assessment of children, including assessment of the effects of ill health on the family unit and the ability of the family to cope. Factors such as domestic violence, mental ill health, drug and alcohol use and chronic illness of a parent may have implications for children as the child may act as carer for the parent, thus altering the parent–child relationship.
The last couple of years have seen a public debate around lone parenthood, largely initiated by the UK Government. These discussions have featured much greater attention towards the motives of adults than towards the situation of the children of lone parents. This paper aims to examine this debate from the perspective of a concern for children’s rights, and specifically in relation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I will attempt to show that the UN Convention can provide a helpful framework against which to test policy proposals relating to children.
Academic and popular audiences have long thought that a “chemical imbalance” is a cause of depression. However, evidence strongly suggests this is not the case. Not only is there little evidence that a chemical imbalance causes depression, but isolating the causes of depression within the biology of individuals marginalizes the importance of psychological and social contributions to individuals’ and families experience of distress. The following review examines the history and evidence of the chemical imbalance hypothesis of depression and then suggests that feminist-informed theories of depression more comprehensively explain depression while avoiding marginalization of psychological and social factors.
Child abuse and neglect, child maltreatment, and child victimization are interchangeable terms that refer to a major public health problem confronting children and families. Abuse manifests when the child or adolescent’s caregiver fails to provide for the youth’s health and well-being either by causing an injury or, as in neglect, by not meeting a basic need. Because of the multifaceted nature of abuse, a comprehensive definition of child abuse and neglect draws upon information from a number of disciplines and a variety of professionals. The phenomenon of child maltreatment has diverse medical, developmental, psychosocial, and legal consequences. Child abuse and neglect, along with its synonyms, describes a wide range of situations. It involves caregiver acts of commission or omission that had or are likely to have injurious effects on the child’s physical, developmental, and psychosocial well-being.
Maltreatment of children has become endemic in our society. In a recent summary of statistics on child abuse and neglect in the United States, Curtis, Boyd, Liepold, and Petit (1995) reported the following physical consequences to the approximately 3 million children maltreated in 1993: 2,000 fatalities, 18,000 serious disabilities, and 141,700 serious injuries. In 1993, the incidence of reported maltreatment was 43 per thousand children, up from 28 per thousand in 1984. Among substantiated and indicated reports of maltreatment, 45% involved neglect, 22% physical abuse, 13% sexual abuse, 5% emotional maltreatment, 2% medical neglect, and 13% other. It is generally believed that these official reports are underrepresentations of the actual incidence of maltreatment, given that some types of abuse (e.g., psychological mistreatment) are difficult to identify and document. The human and financial costs of child maltreatment are unfathomable, although research has clearly documented that the consequences of child maltreatment are potentially devastating (see Briere, Berliner, Bulkley, Jenny, & Reid, 1996).
Seit der Weltfrauenkonferenz in Beijing (1995) wird Gewalt gegen Frauen und Mädchen im Alltag nicht nur als öffentliches Thema sondern auch als Menschenrechtsfrage verhandelt. Seit 1998 hat jede neue EU-Präsidentschaft eigene Initiativen zur Bekämpfung von Gewalt gegen Frauen vorgestellt, der Europarat hat umfassende Empfehlungen hierzu verabschiedet, internationale Organisationen wie die UNO und die WHO, aber auch engagierte Menschenrechtsorganisationen wie terres des hommes und amnesty international haben sich des Themas angenommen (vgl. Wölte 2002).
This article examines how much less thannewmuch greater than ideologies of fathers as caring parents who are being denied their equal rights to look after children by all powerful mothers and the law, post-separation, have obscured ways in which fatherhood has been reconstructed as a means of continuing to do power over women and children through familial social relations. In discussing domestically violent fathers as an empirical case study, the author argues that there is no simple relation between the activities of much less thancaring formuch greater than children and the lessening of abusive practices towards them. The article therefore raises questions about those feminist and pro-feminist theories which view men's involvement in childcare as an inevitable means of transforming dominant masculine identities.
During the past twenty years, several states have implemented statutory and comfort law presumptions against child custody for persons convicted of selected crimes. In this Note, Deborah Ahrens argues that these measures represent an effort to mark convicted persons socially, rather than an attempt to protect children. Because the "best interest of the child" standard currently permits courts to take into account any factors which affect child well-being when awarding custody, and because conduct considered Lender new law includes conduct outside the parenting ambit, statutory and common law presumptions operate to brand convicted persons as "other. " Ahrens analogizes new child custody provisions to other forms of collateral civil punishment for convicted persons, including disenfranchisement and deportation. The Note concludes that because these legal measures assume that the sort of person who would commit a crime is the sort of person who would harm a child-absent any evidence that the parent poses a danger to the child-parents convicted of selected crimes are unjustly denied child custody.
This paper critically examines Marxist and feminist literature on child protection, and identifies both their strengths and weaknesses. The author concludes that, while both ideologies call for broader policy reforms to address the prevalence of poverty and male violence, the core responsibility of statutory systems remains the protection of children and their rights.
Recent findings in research on battered women provide evidence for association between domestic violence and psychological symptomatology for traumatic responses. This study presents a stress model for analyzing and examining the relationship between battering, personal factors, contextual factors, coping and psychosocia adjustment, as measured by the SCL-90-R (Derogatis, 1977) and by a Self-esteem Questionnaire. The SCL-90-R has 9 subscales and can offer a General Severity Index and a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale. Respondents were 80 women who had sought assistance from 9 shelters throughout Spain. Using multiple regression analysis in the battered women sample, the strongest predictors of most of the psychosocial adjustment variables selected in this study were (in order of variance explained) length of time spent in shelter, avoidant coping strategies and having experienced abuse during childhood/adolescence. Sexual battering and childhood sexual abuse predicted Psychoticism (SCL-90-R) among other variables listed above.
Recently the effects of domestic violence on children, and the links between domestic violence and child abuse, have become more widely recognized. Research with adult victims and survivors, and with professionals working in both child protection and domestic violence, suggests that a good understanding of both is necessary to act in the best interests of children without re-victimizing women. This chapter briefly reviews this area, then describes data from research with perpetrators and their partners, looking particularly at typologies of perpetrators and research from a separate study with children, to explore issues related to risk and implications for practice in the area of child protection.
Domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse, rape and sexual assault, and sexual exploitation through prostitution, pornography and trafficking can have many significant adverse impacts on a survivor's health and wellbeing, in the short, medium and long-term. Taking a life-course approach, the book explores what is known about appropriate treatment responses to those who have experienced, and those who perpetrate, domestic and sexual violence and abuse. The book also examines key factors that are important in understanding how and why different groups experience heightened risks of domestic and sexual violence and abuse, namely: gender and sexuality; race and culture; disability; and abuse by professionals. Drawing together results from specially commissioned research, the views of experts by experience, experts by profession and the published research literature, the book argues that sufficient is already known to delineate an appropriate public health framework, encompassing primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, to successfully tackle the important public health issue represented by domestic and sexual violence and abuse. Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse equips health and social care professionals and services to identify and respond to the needs of affected individuals with a view to the prevention and early intervention. © 2010 Catherine Itzin, Ann Taket and Sarah Barter-Godfrey for Parts 1, 2 and 4; Part 3. All rights reserved.
IntroductionDefinition of Sexual AbuseAssessmentInterventionWorking with Support StaffSupervisionConclusion
References
Using survey and administrative data, this chapter presents analyses of cooccurring intimate partner violence (IPV) and child maltreatment allegations in a sample of current and former welfare recipients (N = 1,011). Results show a co-occurrence rate of six percent within an approximate one-year time interval. In the subgroup of families with co-occurring IPV and child maltreatment allegations (n = 65), sixty-eight percent of investigated maltreatment reports involve the female IPV victim as a perpetrator. Findings also show that multiple forms of IPV and child maltreatment should be considered when assessing co-occurrence. Compared to families that experience one or neither form of family violence, families with both IPV and child maltreatment allegations have higher levels of parental depression and stress, greater use of harsh discipline, lower parental warmth, and poorer parental physical health. Results from this study are relevant to systems that serve families experiencing IPV and child maltreatment, and for interventions designed to improve family safety.
This paper attempts to investigate the effects of wife-battering on children. Current behavior problems of the children are examined and potential long-term consequences are evaluated through retrospective examination of the abusive husband. Findings suggest that both present and future behavior may be adversely affected by childhood exposure to domestic violence.
A mental health clinic's consultation to a spouse abuse center led to formation of an ongoing multifamily group that included all residents of the shelter and their children of all ages. The theoretical framework is outlined and group dynamics are highlighted by case material focused on illustrating specific intervention techniques.
Our objectives are to describe the pattern of abuse associated with battering and to evaluate the contribution of the medical system and of broader social forces to its emergence. A pilot study of 481 women who used the emergency service of a large metropolitan hospital in the U.S. shows that battering includes a history of self-abuse and psychosocial problems, as well as repeated and escalating physical injury. In addition, although the number of battered women using the service is 10 times higher than medical personnel identify, the pattern of abuse that constitutes battering emerges only after its initial effects are presented and in conjunction with specific medical intervnetions and referrals. Examination of intervention and referral patterns suggests a staging process by which battering is socially constructed. At first, the physical trauma associated with abuse is medicated symptomatically. But the patient's persistence, the failure of the cure, and the incongruity between her problems and available medical explanations lead the provider to label the abused woman in ways that suggest she is personally responsible for her victimization. Although secondary problems such as depression, drug abuse, suicide attempts, or alcoholism derive as much from the intervention strategy adopted as from physical assault or psychopathology, they are treated as the primary problems at psychiatric and social service referral points where family maintenance is often the therapeutic goal. One consequence of this referral strategy is the stabilization of "violent families" in ways that virtually insure women will be abused in systematic and arbitrary ways. The use of patriarchal logic by medical providers ostensibly responding to physical trauma has less to do with individual "sexism" than with the political and economic constraints under which medicine operates as part of an "extended patriarchy." Medicine's role in battering suggests that the services function to reconstitute the "private" world of patriarchal authority, with violence if necessary, against demands to socialize the labors of love.
PIP
A pilot study of 481 women who used the emergency service of a large metropolitan hospital in the US shows that battering includes a history of self-abuse and psychosocial problems, as well as repeated and escalating physical injury. In addition, although the number of battered women using the service is 10 times higher than medical personnel identify, the pattern of abuse that constitutes battering emerges only after its initial effects are presented and in conjunction with specific medical interventions and referrals. In this paper, the pattern of abuse associated with battering is described and the contribution of the medical system and of broader social forces to its emergence is evaluated. In a series of reviews, final analysis showed an alignment process, what might be termed "the socialization of medical perception," which marks the medical construction of battering as social and which was observed, at various stages, in the medical histories of battered women.
Certain symptoms of family crisis and childhood injury are being “medicalized,” “legalized,” and called “child abuse”—to be processed and dealt with by a range of professionals who derive their social legitimacy and support in the process. Professional conflicts are considered, and the effects of the system on treatment interventions are discussed. Guidelines are offered to minimize the abuse of power of the professional definers.
The belief that abused children are likely to become abusive parents is widely accepted. The authors review the literature cited to support this hypothesis and demonstrate that its unqualified acceptance is unfounded. Mediating factors that affect transmission are outlined and the findings of several investigations are integrated to estimate the true rate of transmission.
The incidence of mother-blaming in major clinical journals was investigated for the years 1970, 1976, and 1982 to determine whether reductions have resulted from the efforts of the women's movement. Very few changes were found across the target years, and mother-blaming was only slightly affected by type of journal and by sex of author.
This opinion article emphasis on mother-infant and mother-child interaction, that should be changed to interaction between parent and child. Effects of the child's own innate and developing characteristics must be taken into account before mothers are simply blamed for what goes wrong. Social practices that classify the responsibility for child rearing as the mother's province can only perpetuate motherblaming; while these practices continue, fathers' absences or actions will not tend to be interpreted as causing the child's problems. Such interpretations by clinicians, researchers, and other mental health professionals strengthen the notion that the problems are the mother's fault, and the vicious cycle continues. For many women, the pervasiveness of motherblaming means that when they give birth to or adopt a baby, they put themselves in a spotlight where, should anything go wrong, they will almost surely be accused. In view of this, it is perhaps remarkable that any mothers can relax at all. There are very few jobs in which one individual will be blamed for anything that goes wrong, and fewer still in which what can go wrong, and the feeling of being blamed, are so devastating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)
The problem addressed here was whether self-concept disturbance significantly distinguished abusive from non-abusive mothers. 60 women with children under 5 yr. were divided into 2 groups of 30 each on the basis of known abuse or non-abuse of the child. All participants completed a Personal Data Sheet containing relevant background information, and Weed-man, Warren, and Marx's unpublished Self-concept Incongruence Scale, to assess positive self-concept, self-concept incongruence, and self-concept inconsistency. Women who abused their children had lower and more inconsistent self-concepts than non-abusers. They also experienced greater incongruence between the way they viewed themselves and the way they would like to be. These disturbances were seen as both the sources and consequences of the extreme frustration which leads to violence when socially appropriate outlets are unavailable.
One hundred battered wives were interviewed. All had bruising, often together with other injuries, such as lacerations and fractures, There was a high incidence of violence in the family histories of both partners, and of drunkeness and previous imprisonment among the husbands. Netherless, both husbands and wives had wide range of educational achievements. Mmost wives were subjected to repeated violence because they had no alternative but to return to the marital home; There was an association between wife battering and child abuse. Places of sanctuary are needed where a woman can take her children when violence is out of control.
No pediatric issue has so captured the attention of the American public during the past year as that of missing children. It is impossible to escape the haunting faces who peer out at us from television screens, milk cartons, breakfast cereal boxes, grocery sacks, bus posters, and business envelopes. Corporations vie with each other over sponsorship of public service campaigns to "publicize the plight of missing children," while television stations compete with a whole variety of specials.
Naturally, whenever emotional concerns of such magnitude are raised, politicians are sure to become involved with stern demands for "immediate action." In May 1985, no less than three separate congressional committees held hearings on missing children all in the same week.
The authors investigated the relationship between physical and sexual abuse and psychiatric illness. The life experiences of 188 male and female psychiatric patients were reconstructed through an in-depth examination of psychiatric inpatient records. Almost half of the patients had histories of physical and/or sexual abuse; 90% of the abused patients had been victimized by family members. The abused patients' responses to chronic victimization included difficulty in coping with anger and aggression, impaired self-esteem, and inability to trust. The authors compare male and female victims and discuss the clinical implications of abuse.
Based on multiple regression analysis to identify the socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal correlates of neighborhood differences in the rate of child abuse and neglect, a pair of neighborhoods matched for socioeconomic level was selected, one high risk, the other low risk. Interviews with expert informants ranging from elementary school principals to mailmen were used to develop neighborhood profiles. Samples of families were drawn from each neighborhood and interviews conducted to identify stresses and supports, with special emphasis on sources of help, social networks, evaluation of the neighborhood, and use of formal family support systems. The results lend support to the concept of neighborhood "risk." Families in the high-risk neighborhood, though socioeconomically similar to families in the low-risk neighborhood, report less positive evaluation of the neighborhood as a context for child and family development. Furthermore, they reveal a general pattern of "social impoverishment" in comparison with families in the low-risk neighborhood.
Sexual Violence. Paper presented at Learning from Women: Theory and Practice
- J Herman
Women and Anger, Cultural Prohibitions and the Feminine Ideal. Paper presented at Learning from Women: Theory and Practice
- T Bernardez