Child Maltreatment

One of the most surprising facts regarding child abuse is that it has only been recognized as a problem in recent times. One of the reasons for this is that traditionally children have been regarded as the property of their parents. As such, the parents were given a wide latitude in how they treated their children, much as one would regard the handling of material possessions.

The medical profession was the first to recognize that unexplained illness and injury in children needed attention. In 1860 Ambroise Tardieu, a Professor of Legal Medicine in Paris, wrote a paper based on the autopsy findings of 32 children who were killed by whipping and burning, the first description of what would now be called the

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n affect urban children. The social changes of the 1960s and 1970s brought changes in sexual roles, causing marriages to end more easily and dramatic shifts in the working patterns of men and women. Remarriage and the presence of step-parents increases the likelihood of sexual abuse of children (Finkelhor, 1979, p. 135). The sexual revolution brought about the increased sexualization of everyone, including children, as is evident from advertising and the media. Inhibitions have lessened, making children more vulnerable to sexual molestation. Much research in the area of child abuse has centered on the characteristics of abusers in an effort to identify those who are likely to maltreat their children. In an original dissertation, Kertzman found that abusers were high in their oral dependency needs and low in frustration tolerance when compared to nonabusers (1980, p. 76). Food was found to satisfy dependency needs of parents likely to abuse during times of frustration, but satisfaction from interpersonal warmth and caring had little effect on frustration tolerance. Other writers have found that there is a set of common characteristics among abusive parents--isolation, dependence, role reversal, low self-esteem, impulsivit
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2702
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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