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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Child abuse; Child abuse;

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine which, out of four, child abuse causality theories select professionals in the state subscribe to. These theories are Role Reversal, Lack of Mothering, Successive Generation, and Psychological Dysfunctioning. Each theory is defined in such a manner as to highlight particular, selective characteristics expressed by the author. A second purpose was to establish a foundation for further study. The information gathered and the results obtained are for this end, also. The four causality theories of child abuse were postulated for explanatory purposes. The causality theory that emphasizes psychological dysfunctioning runs a continuum from immature, impulsive abusers to hostile, aggressiveness, to the psychotic abuser who may perform murder. The abuser is seen as one who is unable to cope with the daily stresses of life. He lacks the ability to relate adequately to reality. The persons who are characterized as abusers are also said to be self-centered and hedonistic. Role reversal theory centered on the caretaker's expectations of the child as a satisfying entity in their life. When the child is not able to fulfill these expectations, the guardian punishes the child for his disobedience. This punishment often leads to abusive acts. Abuse upon a child resulting from lack of mothering is an attempt by the guardian to achieve the stereotype performance or behavior pattern desired in order to lessen or erase the frustration and doubts bout the role of mother or guardian. The successive generation causality theory explains the abuser's action by reference to the fact that the abuser was abused as a child. The child, then, learns these abusive child-guardian patterns and imposes them upon the child or children under his care. These patterns are passed on from generation to generation. Each theory, while highlighting different variables, holds in common with the other three causality theories one salient point. The child abuser is seen as an individual who is suffering from a problem. The problem arises from psychological conflicts, which are dysfunctional for the child-guardian relationship. This study was addressed to the following questions, do professionals, who are exposed to child abuse, adhere to one or more of the tour causality theories used to explain child abuse? What is the relationship between the professionals and the four causality theories? To what extent do the professionals adhere to one or more of the child abuse causality theories? In order to study how professionals in the area subscribe to these theories. the researcher selected social workers and parole officers who have had repeated experience with cases of child abuse. The sample included all of those professionals who met the criteria governing selection and worked in Iowa cities with populations of 50,000 or more. The questionnaire used followed the Likert design. Descriptive examples that typify a theory were formulated by the author. A pilot study was done in Waterloo, Iowa. Questionnaires were subsequently sent to the population studied. The Lindquist Type-One Design was used to analyze the data. This statistical approach allowed the researcher to determine if all four theories are equally held by the respondents. This design allowed two or more independent groups to be studied by a treatment by subjects design. The significant or non-significant difference of theories and groups could be determined. The mean response scores of the subjects would signify the degree of subscription to a particular theory. of the four theories, Psychological Dysfunctioning was subscribed to most, and Role Reversal least. The author concluded that the observed results were due to the structure of the theories. Psychological Dysfunctioning had a general category of psychological problems. No particular charaoter1atics were salient as compared with others. Role Reversal was very structured; it advanced very select characteristics. As a result, the subjects possibly responded most to Psychological Dysfunctioning, because it covered a wider range of child abuse cases without fear of limiting their answer to a select set of characteristics. Role Reversal possibly was so limited that the subjects could not subscribe to it because it did not cover a broader range of psychological characteristics. Secondly, these characteristics may not be readily observable. This study added many questions to the subject of child abuse. Two significant questions emerging were: why did the subjects respond in this manner, and what is the effect of the professional's background upon the particular theory he adopted?

Year of Submission

1973

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

First Advisor

Mitchell Greene

Second Advisor

Virgil C. Noack

Third Advisor

Gilbert Hewett

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1973

Object Description

1 PDF file (63 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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