Early Physical Abuse Research Articles

This study compared 17 abused with 17 accident children, matched on age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status, eight years after all had been studied as infants. A second comparison group, matched on the same variables, consisted of children with no history of abuse and no history of accidents before the age of one year. Hypotheses were that the abused children would fall below the nonabused in health and physical development, intellectual functioning, language, and self-concept; and that the abused children would score higher in impulsivity and aggression. A sub-group of the major abuse group scored significantly lower in expressive language than either of its matched comparison groups, and the whole abuse group showed increased impulsivity and aggression in one test situation. Otherwise, none of the hypotheses was confirmed. Seventy percent of the entire sample had speech problems; over 50% showed some degree of disturbance; 39% were achieving poorly in school. However, these disabilities were distributed quite evenly among abuse, accident, and comparison children. The entire sample (largely lower-class children) appeared sad and fearful. Most 8- or 9-year-olds are concerned with witches, monsters that eat people up or set them afire, etc. These children, by contrast, linked their fears of destruction to real people, e.g. parents, teachers, and older children. Mothers' reports indicated that the families, whether abuse, accident or comparison, experienced constant violence, both environmental and personal. Various explanations were advanced for the absence of group differences and the prevalence of handicapping conditions. The most plausible was that the effects of lower class membership on child development are as potent as the effects of early physical abuse.

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