Families Who Physically Abuse Adolescents (From Violence Hits Home: Comprehensive Treatment Approaches to Domestic Violence, P 126-150, 1990, Sandra M. Stith, Mary Beth Williams, et al., -- See NCJ-128537)

• NCJ Number: 128545
• Author(s): A P Jurich
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Springer Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Adolescent abuse is a large percentage of the behavior that falls under the heading of "child abuse."

Abstract

In one study it was estimated that of the 652,000 children who are victims of abuse and neglect annually, 47 percent are between the ages of 12 and 18. Adolescents are often looked upon as exacerbating their own plight by provoking their parents with their behavior by their actions. Therefore, less attention is paid to them by society than is rendered to the younger victims of child abuse. Adolescents are more likely to be psychologically or sexually abused than children, and they are more likely to be psychologically damaged by the emotional trauma surrounding the physical abuse than the abuse itself. Family dynamics and developmental forces seem to play large roles in precipitating the maltreatment of adolescents. Key factors in the development of stress within the adolescent's family are stressors, resources, family dysfunction and meaning, and coping. Families who physically abuse adolescents form different patterns including maladaptive normals, disillusioned idealists, dethroned despots, and chronic abusers. There are four typical coping strategies employed by families who have just experienced an episode of adolescent abuse: (1) avoidance, (2) intrapunitive measures, (3) extrapunitive measures, and (4) help seeking. 62 references