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people would rather pretend that
child abuse is none of their business,
and they almost have to be forced to
face the fact that it not only exists
but is a major publ ic health prob–
lem."
Unsparlng the Rod
We live in a culture that cherishes
such maxims as "spare the rod and
spoil the child." But such taken-for–
granted sanctions of corporal pun–
ishment can easily lead to tragic
consequences. Violence in the home
today rivals that found on a battle–
field or the scene of a riot. A na–
tional study of violence in American
families found "an astounding
range and severity of violence
toward children by their parents."
Approximately 1.4 million children
between the ages of 3 to 17 had
been attacked by their parents with
a lethal weapon at Ieast once, and as
many as 2.2 million children in the
same age bracket had been beaten
up by these same violent caretakers.
And tragically, these parents
probably received the same sort of
treatment from their parents. But
the root causes of such culturally
sanctioned and ingrained patterns
of child abuse are extremely com–
plex. This is a problem which
presents no easy answers, in spite of
the simplistic "lock-the-parents-up–
and-put- the-kids- in- foster- homes"
solutions most judges, lawyers, and
social workers seem to advocate.
Studies show that kids are gener–
ally better offwith their own parents
even in less-than- ideal situations.
Temporary foster parents just can 't
provide what is needed, no matter
how motivated they may be. And
there is a dearth of good foster
homes-an abused child may be
taken from his own home and
placed in a situation that's only
s lightly better (or maybe even
worse) than the one he left.
Why Parents Do lt
But what are the causes of child
abuse? Experts offer severa! theo–
ries, all of them incomplete of and
by themselves. Here are the main
factors they implicate:
1) Lack of a "mothering im–
print." In other words, the ability of
a parent to nurture and "mother" is
absent because the parent herself
10
was not given this example as a
child. Such a woman is usually iso–
lated, has an unsupportive spouse,
and expects to get the !ove and nur–
turing she missed when she was
young from her own child. When
it's not forthcoming, the frustration
she feels sets the stage for abuse.
2) "Child abusers have negative
character traits." This theory- which
fails to consider other environ–
mental factors- labels or categorizes
abusers as immature, impulsive,
self-centered, frustrated, hostile, sus–
picious, rigid, compulsive, etc.
It
does not take into account the many
people with such negative traits who
do
not
abuse their children.
3) Sorne abusive parents lack so–
cial skills, such as knowledge of
child rearing. They don't know what
to expect of children at various
stages of development, and demand
too much. When children don't per–
form, the parents go overboard on
" punishment."
4) Faulty family structure is a lso
blamed for chi ld abuse. Homes
where children are illegitimate
and/or unwanted; a parent who is
involved with a child to the detri–
ment of the relationship with the
spouse; or families who use a par–
ticular child as a scapegoat for fam–
ily problems are common examples.
5) Environmental stress also con–
tributes. Families in which the
father or mother is out of work;
crowded or inadequate housing;
lack of education; poverty- these all
are factors. But this theory doesn't
explain why sorne poor and envi–
ronmentally stressed people beat
their kids while others don't.
6) Others postulate that frustra–
tion and stress due to a great many
reasons (a poor marriage, too many
children, a difficult child, social isolation,
etc.) combine with a person's social
leve! and background to provide the
breeding ground for child assault.
7) And finally, a small fraction of
child abusers are actually mentally
ill, mentally retarded, or brain dam–
aged. But many otherwise "normal"
people beat their children, and sorne
mentally ill people don't, so this ex–
plains only a few cases.
The Abuslng Famlly System
Blair and Rita Justice see all of these
factors as part ofan overall pattern or
system. They believe that the prob–
lem of child abuse must be attacked
by a "systems" approach. In other
words, the abusing parent does not
stand alone in a vacuum. He or she is
part of an abusing family, which in
turn is inftuenced for good or evil by a
physical and social environment.
This environment includes a series of
"cultural scripts" or patterns of be–
havior that are generally accepted by
the society as permissible, such as
corporal punishment and the viewing
ofkids as parental property. In order
to deal with the overall problem.
society itself will need to be remo–
deled along healthier lines.
The Justices did find a common
pattern in abusing families. In such
a marriage, both husband and wife
usually received inadequate parent–
ing themselves, and both are look–
ing for someone to "take care of
them." They compete with each
other .for nurturing and attention,
with neither one willing to take the
giving or parenting or supporting
role. They don't really have a ma–
ture adult identity of their own. and
they try to merge with their spouses
to form a sort of common identity.
(Understandably such people are
drawn to each other, and this is why
both partners are always involved in
the abusing family system. even
though only one may actually beat
the children.)
When two people who don ' t know
how to be whole persons and meet
their own needs have a child, the
situation is explosive. A mother may
expect her baby to provide the miss–
ing elements in her life: a father
may feel deprived of the attention
his wife formerly focused on him.
However, such a situation may
not produce child abuse all by itself.
The Justices also found that abusing
families are usually in the middle of
a life crisis brought on by too many
changes occurring too fast. The au–
thors feel that the abusive parents'
personalities actually bring on a lot
of these changes.
For example, since the father is
searching for someone to "parent"
him, he will have constant trouble
acting like an adult- making his
own decisions or assuming responsi–
bility for his life. He may get into
trouble financially, engage in sexual
warfare with his wife. have trouble
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1978