Abusive and nonabusive parental treatment from the child's perspective.

Abstract

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: This study by Herzberger et al. examined the experience of child abuse from the child's point of view through observations of the abusive environment and knowledge about the characteristics of abusive parents. The authors advocated a child-centered perceptual research focus. METHODOLOGY: A non-experimental, cross sectional in-depth interview design was employed. Selection of participants was guided by a concern that the subjects share comparable histories (with the exception of abusive treatment) and be relatively similar in sociodemographic characteristics. A sample that met these criteria resided in a group home in a large Midwestern city. The sample consisted of 24 male residents who ranged in age from 8 to 14 and were of diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. None of the boys could be described as severely disturbed. A male undergraduate who was acquainted with the boys, because of previous employment at the home, conducted structured interviews with each child individually. Honest responses were stressed and it was noted that personal questions could be declined if the child chose not to respond. The interview pertained to the child's principal caretakers prior to residence in the home. The interview progressed from general questions about parental characteristics and behavior to specific questions about disciplinary interactions and abusive treatment. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. Questions called for dichotomous choices, scale ratings, and open-ended responses. Responses to open-ended questions were categorized in 3 ways. Did the child characterize his parent as a) exhibiting a particular quality, b) failing to exhibit the quality or exhibiting the opposite quality, or c) exhibiting mixed behavior. Two raters (unaware of the goals of study) were trained on sample protocols until they achieved 90% agreement on each variable. Then both raters coded the responses of all participants. To ensure that the coding represented the conceptual scheme of the investigators, the first author categorized participants according to frequency and severity of abuse and identified which parent had been abusive. Agreement between the author and the raters was above 95% on each variable. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: In comparing descriptions from the boys, abusive mothers and fathers were significantly more likely to be described in negative terms (at .05 or better for most items). Children were more likely to perceive abusive mothers as emotionally neglectful than abusive fathers, and more severe the mothers treatment, the more likely the child was to perceive himself to be emotionally neglected. For the mothers the differences between perceptions of neglect were significant; for fathers, it was not. There was a strong, positive significant relationship between the frequency of name calling and incidence of physical abuse. Children who had been abused by mothers or fathers were significantly more likely to express fear of their parents than nonabused children. Punishment was expressed as the overwhelming cause of fear. An examination of group means revealed that emotional abuse was related to physical abuse but, surprisingly, that a substantial number of children characterized the abusive parent and/or treatment in a positive manner. The abused and nonabused children were likely to accept responsibility for parental spankings. Children who were nonabused and father-abused did not differ significantly about whether they felt that the treatment was deserved. Abused children were more likely to perceive that they were hit more frequently compared to other families. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors suggested that future studies should examine how knowledge of the child's perceptual system can be utilized to improve his/her environment. Perceptions may also be used to provide feedback to abusive parents, enabling them to see how their behavior affects the child. They also argued that studying perceptions may also contribute to our understanding of the effects of abuse. EVALUATION: The goal of this research, to investigate abuse from the child's point of view, is an approach which has the potential to greatly assist practitioners in the field of child counseling and family therapy. The generalizability of this study is hindered by its geographical specificity and the low sample size (24). Coding for qualitative data is also a tricky and potentially unreliable task, but the researchers worked to try to minimize these problems. As an exploratory study, this study raises many questions. The patterns of blame, both parental and self, and reaction to the abuse is an area which needs further study. Further research should broaden the population, for sure, to be able to address such issues as class, gender, race, and severity differences. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Child Perceptions KW - Juvenile Perceptions KW - Victim Perceptions KW - Child Abuse Perceptions KW - Domestic Violence Perceptions KW - Juvenile Victim KW - Child Victim KW - Child Abuse Victim KW - Child Abuse Effects KW - Child Physical Abuse Effects KW - Child Physical Abuse Victim KW - Domestic Violence Effects KW - Domestic Violence Victim KW - Abused-Nonabused Comparison KW - Child Male KW - Male Victim KW - Male Perceptions KW - Late Childhood KW - Early Adolescence Language: en

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