Abuse refers to any form of physical, emotional, sexual and economic maltreatment that actually damages the child's health, life, development and / or dignity. The prevention of abuse will be possible through the recognition of abuse and abuser by the child and strengthening of the "active strategies" used by the child to act against…

Objectives: Although numerous studies have documented linkages between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and later sexual revictimization, mechanisms underlying revictimization, particularly assaults occurring in the context of substance use, are not well-understood. Consistent with Traumagenic Dynamics theory, the present study tested a path model…

Although there has been an increase in research on sex offenders' modus operandi, geographic decision making, and hunting behavior, most studies still tend to emphasize criminal motivation while overlooking the role of situational and environmental factors. Studies of mixed samples of rapists and child molesters typically neglect to conduct…

Certain at-risk behavior patterns are often associated with traumatic childhood experiences. With the role of schools evolving to shape children's developmental needs in today's world, educators across the globe bear an increasingly greater responsibility to identify and address these symptoms associated with childhood trauma. Given the…

Objective: Evidence is steadily accumulating that a preventable environmental hazard, child maltreatment, exerts causal influences on the development of long-standing patterns of antisocial behavior in humans. The relationship between child maltreatment and antisocial outcome, however, has never previously been tested in a large-scale study in…

Learning to relate to others begins at birth and carries forward to new relationships, which is why child maltreatment and exposure to intimate partner violence have emerged as powerful risk factors for future coercive and hostile relationship patterns. Although not inevitable, it is more likely that children who are victims of maltreatment will…

Fred Wulczyn explores how data on the incidence and distribution of child maltreatment shed light on planning and implementing maltreatment prevention programs. He begins by describing and differentiating among the three primary sources of national data on maltreatment. Wulczyn then points out several important patterns in the data. The first…

Alice Miller's work provides a theoretical framework to assess the effects of child abuse and its relationship to the development of creativity, hatred, and violence in the novel "Ender's Game." Analysis focuses on the extent to which children are manipulated in order to meet the needs of adults, the presence of behaviors such as the repression of…

A retrospective investigation of 97 psychologically maltreated children showed a clear relationship between clinical symptoms and intensity of the abuse. Parental neglect resulted in impairment of intellectual and locomotor development and in emotional and behavioral disorders. Neurotic manifestations of regressive type appeared in nearly half the…

Between 1975 and 1979, 98 percent of men identified as young children were retraced. Records for juvenile delinquency showed higher rates among abused, neglected, and rejected boys than those raised by loving parents. Alcoholism, divorce, and occupational success rates were similar among the four groups. Maternal self-confidence and education…

Results of a study involving professionals skilled in working with abusive families, as well as university undergraduates who were asked to identify abusive parents from videotapes of abusive and matched control parent-child dyads during free play, indicated that performance levels of both groups were at chance levels. (Author/DB)

The study explored family characteristics and behavioral-emotional reactions of 77 physically maltreated adolescents. Six different patterns of adolescent reaction to abuse were identified: acting-out, depression, generalized anxiety, extreme adolescent adjustment, emotional-thought disturbance, and helplessness-dependency. (Author/CL)

The research on nine women incarcerated for the death of a child found a recurrent pattern of child abuse prior to the fatality. The women provided warning signals by alerting others to the abuse incidents at the same time as they attempted to rationalize and minimize the abuse. (Author/DB)

The study compared characteristics of 91 mentally retarded victims (ages 11-74) of abuse by residential caregivers with characteristics of nonabused subjects in the same facilities. A significant relationship was found between abuse status and such subject characteristics as level of functioning and frequency of maladaptive behaviors. (Author/DB)

Compared to 16 matched nonabused peers, 16 abused Ss (8-12 years old) showed no less persistence in working for rewards, made equivalent use of contingency information to maintain persistence, and assumed equivalent responsibility for success. However, they took less responsibility for failure. (CL)