Social-ecological contexts of children maltreatment and neglect

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze the importance of several social psychological variables to the variability of parental patterns of maltreatment and neglect with their children. The theoretical frameworks include J. Belsky's ecological model (1980, 1993, 1995) and Cicchetti et al's transactional model (D. Cicchetti and R. Rizley, 1981; D. Cichetti and M. Lynch, 1993) concerning the determinants of parental behavior. 379 children of Lisbon public schools, aged 6-15 yrs, were assessed by their teachers who completed 2 questionnaires. The first questionnaire assessed parental abusive behaviors of physical and psychological maltreatment and physical neglect. The second assessed child and family variables concerning the ontogenical context as well as their micro-, exo-, and macro-systems. Results show the importance of child, family, and ecological variables on parental abusive behaviors, the most salient being child's age, health, and school achievement; family's structure, health, internal violence, and drug consumption; (...)

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v15i1.493