The Role of Stress in the Commission of Subsequent Acts of Child Abuse and Neglect

Abstract

Data from 1,874 clients, reported to authorities and treated for abusive or neglectful treatment of children, were examined to determine the role of stressin the commission of subsequent actsof abuseand neglect.Several case, client, and family characteristics were examined. It was hypothesized that the presence of stressful events would not only have a significant effect on the commission of subsequent acts of child maltreatment but would explain much of the observed variance. The results indicated that the presence of stressful events, as well as seriousness of the initial incident of child abuse, had significant effects (both at the p<.000 level) on the commission of subsequent acts of child maltreatment. However, the presence of stressful events did not explain most of the observed variance. In fact, the inclusion of the variable of stressful events only increased the variance explained by 6%.