HDFS 1070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Intersubjectivity, Causative, Decompensation
23 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Child Abuse
General discourse on parenting strategies that discriminate against the
health and welfare of children: physical realm, cognitive/intellectual realm,
social realm, emotional realm, moral realm, psychological realm
- definition of abuse: parenting strategies that discriminates the welfare of child
- impacts on the trajectory on individual in harmful ways
- prevention strategies, how do we help people after they’ve experienced this
- abuse doesn’t exist in an absolute sense, it’s a valued judgement we make,
degrees on it, differences of values
- there was a point in time in the history of the U.S. when hurting a kid with a stick
was appropriate form of discipline, values change over time, we have a
responsibility to be part of the modern world but there’s a time that values can
differ, outdated values and beliefs vs. modern = conflict of authority
Judgments of Abuse and Values
● Intersubjectivity establishes the cultural norms at any given point in
time!
Incidences:
● What we know: average 5 kids killed/day by parental figures
○ most extreme form of abuse
● What we guess: more than 3 million kids abused or neglected each
year
● not possible to have true stats, only estimated, some abuse isn’t detected,
sometimes you’re not aware of it
Types of Abuses: not mutually exclusive; all exist on a continuum; all have
problems when it comes to defining exactly what they are (complicates
identification of children at risk) easy to define hard to determine and discover
● physical abuse - is spanking physical abuse or not?, physical harm the child,
how much do I have to harm you?, could abuse their child for no one to see ->
parents teach them about boundaries, could limit the information coming out of
the house to protect the values of the family, kids know they’re not supposed to
● emotional abuse
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● neglect - fail to protect and provide for your child
*physical, emotional, neglect - derives from faulty parenting strategies*
● sexual abuse - mental illness, erotic gratification with child, someone who is
erotically fixated on child, treatment is difficult because it’s hard to treat
emotional/mental disorder
Causative Factors Contributing to Child Abuse: no one cause – abuse
derives from many causes and therefore needs to be addressed on many
different levels
● no single cause
● there’s multiple factors that come together to create the opportunity for someone
to become an abusive parent
Developmental/Contextual Perspectives on Child Abuse
Societal Factors: societal comfort with aggression and violence; societal
comfort with use of force and coercion against kids; respect for individual
rights of parents, etc
● U.S. = socially comfortable with violence in our society, like and not like other
cultures, at the same time we respect the individual rights of parents, family is
more private
● you have to train a long time because you drive a car because it’s a public safety
concern, BUT you don’t have to have any certification to be a parent, it’s your
right as an American
Child Factors: highlight again the bi-directional relationship between
characteristics of children and parenting strategies – note, not talking about
an “abuse-provoking child” in the sense that the child then has
responsibility for the abuse.
impulse control: stress and abuse - some children generate more stress to their parents,
the more stressed you are in a particular situation, the lower your impulse control, you
would never yell at your lover in public but if they’re stressing you it can happen “I’m
sorry I lost it” aka “I’m sorry I lost impulse control”, stress increases = hurt their kid
Examples:
● difficult temperaments
● seen as special – meaning stress parents in distinct ways
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
General discourse on parenting strategies that discriminate against the health and welfare of children: physical realm, cognitive/intellectual realm, social realm, emotional realm, moral realm, psychological realm impacts on the trajectory on individual in harmful ways. Definition of abuse: parenting strategies that discriminates the welfare of child. Prevention strategies, how do we help people after they"ve experienced this. Intersubjectivity establishes the cultural norms at any given point in time! What we know: average 5 kids killed/day by parental figures. What we guess: more than 3 million kids abused or neglected each year. Not possible to have true stats, only estimated, some abuse isn"t detected, sometimes you"re not aware of it. Types of abuses: not mutually exclusive; all exist on a continuum; all have problems when it comes to defining exactly what they are (complicates identification of children at risk) easy to define hard to determine and discover. Neglect - fail to protect and provide for your child.
