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38
from 9,563 in 1967 to 10,931 in 1968.
Although this dramatic increase may
partly reRect the growing concern about
child abuse, rather than simply an
increase in occurrcnces, it is still sig–
nificant.
Dr. Edward Lt:noski, assistant profes–
sor of pediatrics at the USC School of
Medicine, estimated tbat tn recent
years child abuse has gone up threefold.
Professor Francis Camps, a British
pathologist, told the Royal Medico-Psy–
chological Association that offi cial fig–
ures show a definite rise in cases of
violence against children in recent years.
He compared the increase in child abuse
to the rise in drug addiction and vio–
lence in general in modero society.
Child abuse is not a new phenome–
non.
It
is as old as the story of man–
kind. But, under the stress of mod–
ero living, in our modero violence–
prone generation, more and more
parents are neglecting proper child
training and are then "losing their
cool" - blowing up at their own chil–
dren, and venting their unexpurgated
wrath upon them.
Even the average person, put in a
social and psychological situation con–
ducive to violent behavior, and sub·
jected to marital discord, financia!
stress, and a crying, wailing, disobed i–
ent baby, could do the "unthinkable"
and turn upon his own child.
UVhy
do parents commit such atroc–
ities? What are the causes of child
abuse? And what can be done about it?
Why Does lt Happen
What provokes parents to beat,
starve, smother, drown, chain, abandon,
attack and assault their own children?
Sorne authorities state that such par–
eots have a negative approach toward
their children.
Dr. Vincent
J.
Fontana puts his finger
on a very significant aspect of the
problem. He says parents who brutalize
their children generally are emotionally
insecure, are under finaocial stress, are
separated or divorced, have problems
with alcoholism or pecversion, etc. He
pointed out that such parents actually
need as much help as their children!
Most incidents of child abuse stem
The
PLAIN T RUTH
from crudc and improper attempts at
discipline. Parents become provoked by
the child's apparent inability to follow
orders, his misbehavior, or rebellion.
They lose their tempers and punish
their children in violcnt anger. To call
this
child
rearing
is a tragic misnomer.
In a comprehensivc survey of all
child-abuse rcports for 1967 and 1968,
the Unitcd States Chi ldren's Bureau
found that nearly 63 percent of the
cases involved an adult response to a
11
More children under
five die every year from
injuries inflicted by a
parent or guardian than
from tuberculosis ,
whooping cough, polio,
measles, diabetes, rheu–
matic fever and appen–
dicitis combined.
11
Dr. Ray E. Helfer –
University of Colorado
School of Medicine
specific act of a child. Seventy-three
percent involved "inadeguately con–
trolled anger of the perpetrator" (Gil,
Violence
Agaimt
Childt·en,
p.
126).
Such parents have a lot to learn about
properly rearing their own flcsh-and–
blood offspring and about themselves.
Unwanted Babies
Another vital aspect of child abuse
concerns undesired pregnancies. In the
United States, between 16 and 20 per–
cent of all first-t ime brides are pregnant
when they go to the altar. But 40 per–
cent of all teen-age brides go into the
marriage ceremony pregnaot, says Dr.
Alan F. Guttmacher, former director of
the departmeot of obstetrics and gyne–
cology at New York's Mt. Sinai Hos–
pital.
These were usually unwanted and
unplanned pregoancies resulting in
tmwanted
ch ildren .
Says Dr.
C.
Henry Kempe, pedia–
trician at the University of Colorado
School of Medicine: "Not infreguently
the beaten infant is a product of an
unwanted pregnancy, a pregnancy which
July 1971
began beforc marriage, too soon after
marriage, o r at sorne other time felt to
be extremely incoovenient"
(JAMA ,
181, 1962).
Bat tered Babies Become
Battering Parents
Dr. Brandt F. Steele, one of Dr.
Kcmpe's original colleagues, aod Dr.
Cacl B. Pollock, in a study of 60 fami–
lies with battered dúldren, discovered a
remarkable fact:
Al!
the
parents who
ballered children u·ere ab11sed
or
neg·
lerted
by
their
ou·n parents.'
As children,
all had experienced inhuman parental
demands, constant criticism and abuse.
This distinct correlation between
abused children and their abused par–
ents is perhaps the most signi ficant
finding of a number of studies. Said Dr.
James Apthorp of the University of
Southern California's School of Medi –
cine, abused children often become
brutal parents, the violence repeating
itsc:lf through generations of a single
fami ly. Although family stress, eco–
nomic deprivation, and related factors
are often involved, virtually all the
abusing parents among thc 60 families
studied by Drs. Steele and Pollock had
been physically or emotionally abused
when they were children.
Ironically, therefore, it is often the
wrtitm
of child abuse who tuco out to
be the child
ab11sers
of the following
gcneration.
They have a selfish conccrn for thc ir
ou•n
needs, but are insensitive to the
ebb and flow of the infant's needs. This
is a "role reversal" where the parents
act like needy children and expect their
children to supply
them
with the
desired comfort and !ove! Thus they
expect their own children to provide
that which their parents did not
provide. As one mother said: "1 have
never felt really loved all my life. When
the baby was born, 1 thought he would
love me. When he cried, it meant he
didn't !ove me. So I hit him."
Such parents may be very sincere in
wanting to provide their children a
proper home environment; but, not hav–
ing been reared correctly themselves,
they really don't know where to begin.
They are incapable of giving their
youngsters security, safety, affection and