Parent physically injures or inflicts serious pain on the child. This includes hitting with hands or fists, hitting with objects (wooden, plastic or metal implements), burning, shaking infants, stabbing and so on.
Physical abuse goes beyond the limits of discipline practices which include minor spanking or paddling by being more frequent and by inflicting more physical damage. Legal criteria for physical abuse typically require observable physical evidence of dam age in the form of bruises, cuts, broken bones, scars, and skin abrasions.
Doing serious physical damage to one's own child goes against the legal, social, and moral standards of society, as well as biological instincts. Most parents who physically abuse their children know this. So why do they do it?
There is no single reason. Some parents are unable to control their own anger about some aspects of their lives. Abusing their child becomes a twisted way of expressing that anger. Parents under high levels of economic stress who have no social support systems can become overwhelmed with the responsibilities and challenges of parenting. Unwed, low-income, teen mothers are at high risk for abusing their young child. Some parents were physically abused as children and are especially likely to vent psych ological stress on their children.
Children who experience physical abuse over a long period of time often develop long-term psychological problems. They typically believe they are worthless and bad because parents usually justify the abuse in those terms. The child's emerging self conce pt is crippled from the beginning.
Children often have pent-up anger and rage in response to physical abuse. That cannot be expressed toward the parent because it only leads to even more abuse. So the rage is either directed toward the self, or psychologically stored. That rage may be e xpressed later in life in various forms of dysfunctional aggression.
Physically abusive parents are often affectionate toward the child most of the time. Children naturally respond to this with a bonding reaction. Over time the child may learn that physical, verbal abuse, and pain is an essential part of a loving relatio nship. This gets applied to the child's close relationships with others outside the family as they develop. Thus a physically abused child may grow up to seek partners who provide them with affection and pain. Such individuals expect physical and emoti onal pain to be an important part of close relationships.
Physically abused children may also learn that physical violence is a good way of dealing with interpersonal problems. This may lead to fighting with peers during childhood, marital conflict, and physical abuse of their own children.
Several factors are involved in determining how a child responds to physical abuse. These include the age of the child when the abuse occurred, severity of the abuse, the duration of the abuse, psychological support within the family, the personality of the child, and support outside of the family. Some children are damaged more than others.
See the Readings in the Syllabus for Details.
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