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The Inter-related Factors That Contribute to Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse and Neglect

Research and practice suggest that a complex interaction of individual carer, child, family community and societal / cultural factors contribute to physical, emotional abuse and neglect. The interaction of these factors are significant, not simply the existence of the factors.

Child physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect occur when the family is isolated from the essential support systems which provide:

• clear feedback about what is OK parenting
• guidance about what can reasonably be expected of children as they develop
• intimacy and personal acceptance
• help in managing painful or difficult emotions
• practical help with survival.

This social support system becomes even more crucial when a family is under stress due to poverty, ill health or a myriad of other factors.

Rates of child physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect across different communities, are correlated with:

• family income
• incidence of domestic violence
• presence of single parent households
• crowded dwellings
• transience of residents
• whether families have positive neighbourhood exchanges and perceptions of their neighbourhood

(Garbarino and Kostelny 1992, Vondra 1990, Goddard and Hiller 1993, Weatherburn and Lind 1996, Tomison 1995).

Killen identified a number of parent functioning factors which are important in considering risk to children's well being. these include:

• realistic perception of the child
• realistic expectations of the needs a child might satisfy in the parent
• realistic expectations of the child's coping and achievement
• empathy with the child
• ability to be emotionally positively engaged with the child
• ability to give priority to the child's developmental needs
• ability to restrain aggressive behaviour towards the child.

(Killen, K. 1994, Neglect of Neglect Seminar 9 NSW Child Protection Council).

Parent factors alone do not provide an adequate explanation for the occurrence of abuse and neglect.

"Poverty and social inequality are commonly cited as risk factors for child abuse and neglect although, as Kaufman and Zigler (1992) point out, ... most poor people do not maltreat their children and poverty per se does not cause abuse and neglect'. Factors associated with poverty and social inequality do, however, increase the likelihood of maltreatment. These factors include stress, a sense of powerlessness, and the lack of money and other resources. Political and economic decisions can increase poverty and worsen its effects, or they can alleviate poverty and provide support for children and families, particularly in times of economic difficulty". (NSW Child Protection Council, 1997:26).

(Extract from NSW Child Protection Council's A Frameworkfor Building a Child-Friendly Society. Strategiesfor Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect).

"Research has consistently demonstrated that recurrent maltreatment is not the outcome of any singlefactor - whether:

• parental psychopathology or maltreatment history,
• child temperamental or behavioural deviance,
• marital conflict or violence,
• economic hardship and job stress,
• inadequate social supports, or
• sociocultural mores that encourage punitive, authoritarian parenting.

Vondra, 1990

The accumulation of risk factors and the interaction between factors are significant - not simply the existence of factors.

For example, the vulnerability of a parent who:

• experienced childhood deprivation
• and has unrealistic expectations of parenthood and young children
• and is unsupported, undermined or subject to violence from her partner is likely to be much greater than the vulnerability of a parent who is subject to only one of these factors.

The situation is further compounded if the family is exposed to the social stress of living in poverty, in an unsupportive community setting, in a culture which places further demands, expectations and disadvantages on the parent. If the parent believes the child does not live up to expectations, or is difficult to care for, abuse becomes even more likely.

The presence of protective factors may, however, reduce the risk of abuse and neglect. "For example, one of the best recognised strategies is to provide community support for children in socially isolated families and to weave a protective social fabric around them. (NSW Child Protection Council, 1997:3). (NSW Child Protection Council's A Frameworkfor Building a Child Friendly Society. Strategies for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect).

"Research shows that the 'social fabric' which surrounds families can make it easier or harder for them to manage their problems" (Carbarino and Sherman, 1980; Garbarino and Hostelny, 1994; Hashima and Amato, 1994; Melton and Barry, 1994).

"There is an abundance of evidence linking social isolation and limited social ties with elevated risk of child abuse and neglect" (Belsky, 1993).

Providing social support and 'creating caring communities' are seen as important means of preventing child maltreatment, particularly for socially isolated families (Melton and Barry, 1994; US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1991, 1993). Particular care is needed to ensure that support structures and services are available to those who need them the most. This means taking account of what people think about the support and the services they need, the availability of support, and their views about their local area and willingness to engage with their local community.

Thompson (1994) notes that there are a number of ways in which social support might help reduce risks in disadvantaged and stressed communities including:

• providing emotional sustenance providing counselling, advice or guidance
• providing access to information, services, and material resources and assistance
• helping people acquire skills (e.g. in child-rearing, personal skills in budgeting
• and household management, coping with stress and job-related skills)
• assisting with social monitoring and social control (e.g. regulating inappropriate parenting behaviour)
• providing role models for secure and supportive relationships.

(Extract from NSW Child Protection Council's A Frameworkfor Building a Child-Friendly Society. Strategies for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect).

Contributing factors must never be misconstrued as excuses for abuse neglect. These factors may make it understandable but they do not make it OK. These complex interacting factors do not directly "make" abuse/ neglect happen but rather set up vicious cycles in which abuse/ neglect can easily occur.

The model of interrelated factors shows that all of us can contribute to reducing the risk of abuse and neglect of children.

Effective intervention and prevention of child abuse and neglect needs to take into account the multiple interacting contributing risk factors.

The NSW Child Protection Council's A Framework for Building a Child-Friendly Society. Strategies for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect identifies six key considerations in the response:

1. Recognising the complex interaction of risk and protective factors
2. Preventing the accumulation of risk
3. Timing intervention appropriately
4. Addressing common risk factors
5. Different strategies for different risk factors
6. Need to act at different levels (individual, family, community).

Risk factors increase the likelihood of abuse and neglect but protective factors reduce the risk. As a result there is a need to enhance known protective factors. These include, for example:

• Income support/ supplement
• access to information advice and support from a wide range of health, education and community services
• Child care/ respite care
• accessible public transport
• social / community activity involvement
• marital harmony/ supportive partner
• adequate income
• supportive extended family
• social support networks outside family
• access to child care/ respite care
• good interpersonal skills (parent or child)
• good health (parent or child).

Child abuse and neglect are community problems and therefore are a community responsibility but the community is made up of individuals.

(Extract from NSW Child Protection Council's A Framework for Building a Child-Friendly Society. Strategies for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect)