NCJ Number
106796
Editor(s)
R J Gelles,
J B Lancaster
Date Published
1987
Length
345 pages
Annotation
The history, etiology, treatment, and outcomes of child abuse and neglect are examined within a biosocial framework that considers the biological substrates and social and environmental contexts of behavior.
Abstract
Focus is on recent advances in research into parental behavior and patterns of investment in offspring. Following an introduction, cross-cultural, historical, and evolutionary perspectives on child abuse and neglect are offered. Possible causal mechanisms and social and ecological contexts of abuse are considered with respect to influences on abuse in humans and nonhuman primates, particularly stress and mother-infant psychobiological synchrony. Neurochemical mechanisms of attachment and aggression in the monkey are also discussed. Characteristics of parents who kill their children are delineated, and profiles of the victims and perpetrators of child homicide and reported maltreatment are compared. Additional risk factors in maltreating families are identified. Finally, three studies examine the consequences of abuse and neglect, including child developmental sequelae and transgenerational transmission. Chapter summaries, references, and index.