Risk Factors - Page 3

3. Characteristics of Child
Child maltreatment occurs in a framework of parent-child relationship and one has to consider the influence of the child on parental behavior. This is not to say that children are responsible for their abuse at the hands of their parents, but that there are perhaps certain characteristics which place the child at risk for being maltreated.

• Prematurity. There are ample sets of data which illustrate the effects of prematurity on parental behavior. Premature infants are usually weaker, less alert, harder to quiet if distressed than full term babies. Their parents do not tend, therefore, to be active and stimulating with them. Even later on in their lives it is difficult for the parents to find the right balance between over-stimulation and under-stimulation.
• Temperament of the child. Child's temperament is a characteristic which has a potential to elicit child abuse or neglect in as much as it clashes, or does not fit the parent's temperament.
• Retardation, emotional disturbance and physical handicap. These characteristics may also constitute risk factors for child maltreatment. Evolving data suggest that these particular characteristics negatively influence parental behavior, especially an aggressive behavior and difficulties in impulse control.

4. Social and Cultural Context
Our discussion of risk factors and determinants of child maltreatment, focused on abuse and neglect within the family. But, in addition we have to consider to what extent a particular child-rearing behavior is acceptable or deviant within one group, common or different between groups. Furthermore, we have to relate to parental behavior against the backdrop of the general social and cultural context.

• Social attitude toward children. We refer here to the ways in which children are viewed in a given culture. Are they considered to be the property of the parents? Till what age according to cultural norms they require the protection and nurturance of their parents? To what extent physical abuse is considered educational thus acceptable? And to what extent child labor is acceptable?
• Social attitude toward family. The main question here is to what extent the family is viewed as a unit which should not be tampered with. What are the social sanctions (formal, legal and informal) which exist and the ways they can be and are enforced in cases of families which deviate from the norms.
• Social attitude toward violent behavior. Is there a general acceptance of violence as a legitimate way to solve conflicts and disputes? Clearly when this is generally accepted, physical abuse of children will not be seen as a deviant parental behavior. Common sense tells us that certain social and cultural attitudes, like the ones mentioned, are conducive to child maltreatment within the family.