Child Abuse And The Social Environment

This book examines the need to emphasize the influence of the environment in responding clinically to the needs of abusive families. It documents the utility of the ecological method, a technique appropriate to large-scale environmental study in the analysis of child maltreatment issues.

1. Introduction. The Role of Environmental Forces, The Application of the Ecological Method, 2. Child Protection in the U.S.: A System in Crisis, 3. Rival Theories and Previous Research Psychodynamic vs. Sociological Theory, Adolescent Pregnancy and Illegitimate Birth, Divorce and Marital Discord, The Single-Parent Family, Economic Status, Education, 4. Findings, The Population at Risk, Sparsely Populated Counties, Characteristics of Abusive and Neglectful Families, County Group Comparisons, Environmental Variable Correlation with Child Maltreatment Rules, Multiple Regression of Rates of Reported Child Maltreatment on Environmental Variables, Discrimination of Risk, 5. Discussion of Study Results, Family Structure and the Ability to Provide, The Influence of Adolescent Pregnancy, Forms of Child Maltreatment, Child Protection Laws, Interstate Variance, 6. Recommendations Refocusing Service: A Comprehensive Stress Model, Large-Scale Ecological Study, Exploring Relations Among Rival Etiological Theories, Increasing the Suitability of Public Data Sets for Comparative Analyses, 7. Conclusion

Fryer, George E.