CHILD ABUSE WITHIN THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY
The research examines the phenomenon of child abuse among Hispanics residing in the United States. Implications for social work are addressed.
American society is becoming increasingly sensitized to the phenomenon of child abuse. Politicians, social service professionals, criminal justice professionals, and other responsible parties are under increasing pressures to develop and implement policies that will both protect the public, provide assistance to victims, and provide help to the extent possible to the perpetrators of child abuse.
A variety of reasons underlie the social and psychological problems exhibited by many children in contemporary society. One of these factors is abuse perpetrated by someone in a position of trust or authority in the life of a young person (Howing, 1990, pp. 244-49). The most debilitating outcomes of abuse experienced by a young person are a loss of self-esteem, hopelessness, and depression (Ogata, 1990, pp. 1008-1013). The cycle of abuse, hopelessness, depression, and the loss of self-esteem is associated with such outcomes as a failure to develop effective interpersonal skills, ineffective social integration, and dysfunctional families (Jean-Gilles & Crittenden, 1990, pp. 323-329).
Pollock (1990, pp. 1290-1293) found that children of divorced parents were more likely than were other children to experience abuse. The battered child is the most prevalent image of the abused child in the United States; however, psychological damage stemming from sexual abuse frequently poses more serious risks for the child.
The perpetrators of child abuse in the United States are typically (50 percent) those adults who are closest to the child (Kaplan & Sadock, 1991, p. 327). In approximately 30 percent of the cases, the abuser is the mother, while the father is the abuser in about 20 percent of the cases, and the remaining 50 percent of cases of abuse are ...