at abusive behavior is, at least in part, the outcome of social variables such as overcrowding, poverty, unemployment, and isolation. Those advocating this model note that statistically abusive parents are more frequently observed to be single parents from lower socioeconomic strata with few friends and minimal social interactions with others. Preventive efforts based on the sociological model tend to be aimed at remediating stresses and pressures related to social conditions.
Both the psychological model and the sociological model are not without criticism. For example, in her discussion of the psychodynamic model, Tomlinson-Keasey (1985) states that the model:
. . . receives scattered support from a variety of studies, yet the basic flaw remains. For each of the variables that predict abuse, we can find many exceptions. Other factors that promote or discourage abuse must be operating. (p.527).
Similarly, of the sociological model, Tomlinson-Keasey (1985) notes that despite conditions such as poverty, overcrowding, etc., most parents in these circumstances do not abuse their children. Therefore, once again other factors must be operating.
Because of the failures of the psychodynamic and sociological models, Kauffman (1982) has noted that child abuse theory has more and more frequently focused on an interactionaltransitional paradigm. This paradigm or model is one in which the abusive behavior is viewed as a function of parents' social learning and dysfunctional family interaction between parent and child.
Parke & Lewis (1981) refers to the interactionisttransactional model as an "ecological approach." The authors note that this approach is far more comprehensive than previous models because it subsumes these models. In other words, the approach explains the behavior by considering factors such as the personalities of both parent and child, the social pressures on the family, and the interaction between paren...