Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I History and definition
- Part II Parental and contextual influences on maltreatment
- 6 Lessons from child abuse: the determinants of parenting
- 7 The antecedents of maltreatment: results of the Mother–Child Interaction Research Project
- 8 Parental attributions as moderators of affective communication to children at risk for physical abuse
- 9 Perceived similarities and disagreements about childrearing practices in abusive and nonabusive families: intergenerational and concurrent family processes
- 10 Cognitive foundations for parental care
- 11 Intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in serious parenting difficulties
- 12 The construct of empathy and the phenomenon of physical maltreatment of children
- Part III The developmental consequences of child maltreatment
- Name index
- Subject index
7 - The antecedents of maltreatment: results of the Mother–Child Interaction Research Project
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I History and definition
- Part II Parental and contextual influences on maltreatment
- 6 Lessons from child abuse: the determinants of parenting
- 7 The antecedents of maltreatment: results of the Mother–Child Interaction Research Project
- 8 Parental attributions as moderators of affective communication to children at risk for physical abuse
- 9 Perceived similarities and disagreements about childrearing practices in abusive and nonabusive families: intergenerational and concurrent family processes
- 10 Cognitive foundations for parental care
- 11 Intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in serious parenting difficulties
- 12 The construct of empathy and the phenomenon of physical maltreatment of children
- Part III The developmental consequences of child maltreatment
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
Introduction
Interest in the antecedents of child maltreatment has been present in a wide variety of disciplines for many years. Psychologists, particularly developmental psychologists, express interest in the extent to which this knowledge contributes to an understanding of the parenting process and developmental psychopathology (Maccoby and Martin, 1983). Professionals in applied fields such as medicine, social work, education, and clinical psychology depend upon research on the antecedents of child maltreatment in order to construct prediction, prevention, and intervention efforts in their work with individuals and families as well as in communities and social policy efforts. Despite the advances made in research and theory in child maltreatment over the past thirty years, only recently have there been attempts to develop integrated theoretical models of such a complex phenomenon (Cicchetti and Rizley, 1981). These efforts to produce empirically derived theories of the etiology of child maltreatment have been hindered by a number of central issues.
These major issues are discussed at various points in this chapter and in others in this volume. It is important to realize that each of the disciplines contributing to maltreatment research must in some way address these issues. They include reliance on retrospective research designs, use of conceptual models that postulate isolated or single causes for maltreatment, and the lack of a heuristically generated theoretical foundation based on previous empirical findings (Belsky, 1980; Cicchetti and Aber, 1980; Cicchetti and Rizley, 1981; Egeland and Brunnquell, 1979). This chapter presents a summary of the results of research conducted on the antecedents of child maltreatment by the Mother-Child Interaction Research Project at the University of Minnesota, which was specifically designed to address these issues.
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- Information
- Child MaltreatmentTheory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect, pp. 203 - 253Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
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