اهمیت نسبی همسر آزاری به عنوان یک عامل خطر برای خشونت علیه کودکان

Objective: To investigate the relative importance of wife abuse as a risk factor for physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal child abuse. The study explored the importance of wife abuse relative to blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics and also relative to specific risk factors. Method: This study re-analyzed a sub-sample (N = 2,733) of data from the 1985 National Family Violence Survey. Hierarchical logistic regressions were conducted, using five different criterion variables measuring physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal abuse separately and in combination. Results: Blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics were more important predictors of violence towards children than was wife abuse, though the presence of wife abuse in the home was a consistently significant specific risk factor for all forms of violence against children. Of specific risk factors, a respondent’s history of having been hit as an adolescent was a larger risk factor for physical child abuse than was wife abuse. Wife abuse was an important predictor of physical punishment. Non-violent marital discord was a greater factor in predicting likelihood of verbal child abuse than was wife abuse. Conclusions: Though this study confirms the association between wife abuse and violence towards children, it cautions us not to overlook the contribution of other factors in our attempts to understand the increased risk attributed to wife abuse.

TO BETTER UNDERSTAND the problem of violence against children, it is important to study the contexts in which it occurs. In recent years, attention has focused on child abuse in the context of wife abuse. Studies have revealed that children are at increased risk of physical abuse and/or punishment when wife abuse occurs in the home Bowker et al 1988, Ross 1996, Schechter and Edleson 1994, Stark and Flitcraft 1988 and Straus and Smith 1990. The co-existence of wife abuse and child abuse is amply documented in the literature and wife abuse is understood to be a clear risk factor for child abuse. What is not found in the literature, however, is much analysis of wife abuse relative to other risk factors for child abuse. In other words, how great a predictor is wife abuse compared to other significant risk factors? The purpose of the present study was therefore to examine the relative importance of wife abuse in understanding violence against children. Because different forms of violence can have distinct etiologies and different correlates, three separate types of violence against children were explored: physical abuse; physical punishment; and verbal abuse. The following research questions were investigated: What is the relative importance of parent characteristics, child factors, family characteristics, and wife abuse for understanding violence against children? How important is wife abuse relative to other risk factors? What are the greatest specific risk factors for different forms of violence against children? Knowledge derived from this research may lead to greater understanding of physical child abuse, corporal punishment, and verbal abuse of children.