NCJ Number
183733
Date Published
1997
Length
31 pages
Annotation
Child maltreatment covers a complex group of human behaviors characterized by traumatic interactions between parents or other caretakers and infants and children of all ages under their care, as well as between strangers and children during casual contact.
Abstract
Child maltreatment includes many varieties of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and various forms of neglect, all of which can occur alone or in combination. Moreover, child maltreatment is an extremely complex problem and its ramifications extend into the fields of medicine, sociology, law, psychology, child development, religion, psychiatry, biology, and anthropology. Through attachments to and interactions with caregivers, infants learn what the external world is like, who they are, and what they must do and not do in order to survive. By the end of the first year, these infants have learned some basic concepts of the only world they know. This internal working model will unconsciously guide much of the future of children's relationships and behavior. The author discusses psycho-dynamic and biological factors in child maltreatment with respect to generational repetition of maltreatment, trauma associated with abuse and neglect, child sexual abuse, children's sense of self and identity, caregiver perceptions of children, aggression and violence, delinquency and crime, and clinical manifestations of child physical and sexual abuse. 80 references