Risk factors for child physical abuse

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Abstract

We review the risk and protective factors for child physical abuse (CPA). An etiological model based on moderate to strongly supported risk factors would begin with distal perpetrator variables of being abused as a child/teen and receiving less family social support as a child. Next might come current family variables such as parents' youth, father's drinking, and family's living in a community that is impoverished and/or has a lower percentage of two parent families. More proximal variables that increase the probability of parents, especially mothers, employing severe or abusive physical tactics could include mothers' dysphoria (e.g., unhappiness, emotional distress, anxiety, loneliness and isolation, depression, somatic complaints, interpersonal problems, feelings of incompetence as a parent, a tendency toward becoming upset and angry), and stress (more stressful life events, including parenting and other family stresses) and coping (most likely a protective factor, including problem solving and social support). Finally, risk factors that are proximal to abuse could include mothers' high reactivity (impulsivity, high negative affect and autonomic nervous system arousal), high-risk parenting (harsh discipline strategies, verbal aggression, yelling), and negative attributions, and children's behavior problems (e.g., socialized aggression, attention deficits, and internalizing and externalizing problems).

Section snippets

Definition and measurement

Assessments of PCPA are often embedded within questionnaires about parenting tactics and larger studies about parenting. This is consistent with some models of child abuse (e.g., Belsky, 1980, Wolfe, 1987) that view CPA on the extreme end of the spectrum of typical parenting behaviors. Given that nearly all parents use corporal punishment (Straus, 1994), it is important not to label all parental aggression with “child abuse.” Although child maltreatment laws are not uniform across states or the

Selection criteria for review

The studies included in this review (a) were published in a psychological, medical, or a sociological journal or book, (b) provided enough statistical information to be meaningfully analyzed (e.g., included statistical analyses comparing abused vs. non-abused groups, provided more information than p-values), (c) employed either a representative community sample or a clinical sample with an appropriate control group (e.g., non-CPA mothers or children), and (d) clearly defined the type of

Perpetrator risk factors

Most of the research investigating risk for PCPA and CPA has focused on perpetrators' characteristics. The majority of this research investigates mothers' characteristics; few studies have investigated the fathers' characteristics. Perpetrator variables reviewed include demographic, personal history, personality, adjustment, cognitive, affective, intelligence, social support, and behavioral factors. Details about the studies discussed in this section can be found in Table 1.

Victim risk factors

The majority of research on correlates of PCPA focuses on characteristics of the perpetrator rather then the victim. Including this section on victim characteristics as risk factors does not suggest children cause their PCPA. This section is included because child characteristics may serve as markers that are associated with increased risk for PCPA without being causally related. Details about the studies discussed in this section can be found in Table 2.

Demographic variables

Sedlak (1997) investigated the relation between PCPA and several family demographic variables in the NIS-2 sample. Only child status and low family income (as reviewed above) were associated with CPA, as was an interaction between being a child over the age of 5 and living with both parents. Finally, CPA was not related to geographic region. Details about the studies discussed in this section can be found in Table 3.

Family stress

Williamson et al. (1991) found that CPA adolescents (n=12), compared to non-CPA

Community risk factors

Drake and Pandey (1996) investigated the relation between neighborhood risk factors and CPA using 1990 Census data and 1992 Child Abuse and Neglect database from Missouri to analyze 185 different neighborhoods. Neighborhoods were defined by zip code, each comprising 1010 to 7640 families, resulting in a total sample of 481,722 families. They found that communities with greater poverty and a lower percentage of two parent families had significantly higher rates of CPA (effect sizes could not be

Conclusion

Child physical abuse has the richest risk factor research literature of any form of family violence. An etiological model based on moderate to strongly supported risk factors would begin with distal perpetrator variables of being abused as a child/teen and receiving less family social support as a child. Next might come current family variables such as parents' youth, father's drinking, and family's living in a community that is impoverished and/or has a lower percentage of two parent families.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the partnership of (a) the US Air Force Family Advocacy Program and (b) the US Department of Agriculture National Network on Family Resilience (contract CR-4953-545735).

Thanks to Col. John Nelson (director of US Air Force Family Advocacy Program) and to the outgoing USAF-FAP research director, Lt. Col. Carla A. Monroe-Posey (ret.) for supporting these reviews. Thanks also to our USDA-NNFR project administrators, Drs. Craig Allen (Iowa State) and Sandra Stith (Virginia

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