NCJ Number
88336
Date Published
1980
Length
187 pages
Annotation
Proceedings of a European colloquium on child abuse include major papers on the nature, causes, consequences, and social controls of familial child abuse as well as attendant discussion and conference recommendations.
Abstract
The first speaker addresses the manifestations and definitions of child abuse, including physical aggression, negligence, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse within the family, and characterizes the personality of the offender, the process of labeling, and the victim. The paper on the etiological factors and long-term consequences of child abuse raises methodological problems of identifying abused children, breaks etiological conditions down into social and familial contributing factors, and draws psychological profiles of typical child abusers and their relationships with their children. The short-term physical and long-term psychological damage to the victims of parental abuse are also discussed. The paper on formal and informal social controls against child abuse compares the laws of various countries regarding legal provisions for bringing criminal charges against serious abusers and for effecting protective measures in the interests of abused children. It emphasizes social intervention efforts, such as assistance to families and children in the form of shelters, advocacy, hotlines, parent groups, crisis centers, and the need for coordination of such programs. Recommendations are presented in terms of preventive policies for the benefit of the parents, implementation of prevention programming, and the need for continued research of the problem. The appendix contains bibliographies for the individual papers, the conference agenda, and a list of participants.