Child Maltreatment
Theory and Research on the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect

This important new volume provides a comprehensive account of the causes and consequences of child maltreatment from a developmental perspective.

Dante Cicchetti (Edited by), Vicki Carlson (Edited by)

9780521379694, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 June 1989

816 pages
23.6 x 15.8 x 4.5 cm, 1.115 kg

"Cicchetti and Carlson have assembled an important reference work that bridges the gap between the study of child maltreatment and child development. It is a necessary addition to the professional library of students of both topics." Richard J. Gelles, American Journal of Sociology

This important new volume provides a comprehensive account of the causes and consequences of child maltreatment from a developmental perspective. The chapters in the volume offer an historical and definitional context for future studies: What constitutes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse? What is child neglect and how has its definition changed over time? Why has the theory of the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment been overstated for so long? The heart of the volume lies in its careful description of well controlled research on the impact of maltreatment on the developmental process. Specific chapters address the effects of maltreatment on congitive, linguistic, social, and emotional development. Special attention is paid to age-specific deficits in social interaction, to parent-child interaction and attachment in the early years, and to peer relationships during later childhood and adolescence. The psychology of abusive and neglecting parents is also addressed. Who are the maltreating parents and how are they different from comparison parents? What are the conditions under which maltreatment recurs in subsequent generations? The volume concludes with a chapter on the processes at work in maltreatment can be applied to reducing the problem. Child Maltreatment will appeal to both researchers and clinicians in a range of disciplines including developmental and clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work, pediatrics, sociology, and law, as well as to policymakers and students in all of these areas.

Preface
Part I. History And Denfinition: 1. Definitional issues in child maltreatment
2. Physical child abuse in America: past, present, and future
3. Pediatrics and child abuse
4. Sexual abuse of children: causes and consequences
5. The intergenerational transmission of child abuse
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
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: 13. How research on child maltreatment has informed the study of child development: perspectives from developmental psychopathology
14. Child maltreatment and attachment theory
15. Patterns of maternal behaviour among infants at risk for abuse: relations with infant attachment behaviour and infant development at 12 months of age
16. Finding order in disorganization: lessons from research on maltreated infants' attachments to their caregivers
17. Peer relations in maltreated children
18. The effects of maltreatment on development during early childhood: recent studies and their theoretical, clinical and policy implications
19. Social cognition in maltreated children
20. The effects of maltreatment on the development of young children
21. Troubled youth, troubled families: the dynamics of adolescent maltreatment
22. Child abuse, delinquency, and violent criminality
23. The prevention of maltreatment
Name index
Subject index.

Subject Areas: Child abuse [JFFE1]