ABUSIVE PARENTS & ABUSED CHILDREN
- Back-Handed Down From One Generation To The Next -
As with most systems, the abusive family is a complex one that is impacted by a host of sociological, cultural, psychological and interactional variables. However, when children are abused it is particularly problematic, as they are normally abused by the very people who are responsible for their ultimate health and well being. The vast majority of child abuse incidents are perpetrated by parents or other relatives, “Nearly 90% of all incidents of maltreatment occur in children’s homes by a parent or other relative,” (Janko 25). Adding to the complexity of the issue are the various types of child abuse or maltreatment which may occur. While traditional studies have lumped all types of child abuse together, there is a strong push today to separate the different types of abuse because each type is prompted in parents from different mitigating factors. The four types of child abuse are: physical; sexual; emotional; neglect. While there are theories in the literature offering different reasons as the cause of each type of abuse, the one factor that cannot be denied is that most parents who abuse their children were themselves victims of abuse in their own childhood, “their lives have usually been fraught with rejection and losses, with the loss of nurturing in childhood as the foundation,” (Crosson Tower 80).
The one common denominator among abusive parents is low self-esteem. Very often these feelings were engendered in the abusive parents at an early age and the resulting feelings of being unloved and unworthy are often ones they “back-hand” down to their own children. This analysis will explore three elements that seem to emerge time and again in the literature on child abuse where parents are concerned: low self-esteem; dependency; social isolation. The analysis will focus on the psychoanalytical factors tha...