Theories of Child Maltreatment
The conceptions of how child maltreatment originates and is maintained as an enduring and destructive social phenomenon have been debated in theory and research for many years. The conception of child abuse, though it has changed over time has been irreconcilably changed by psychology and more specifically psychological theory. Probably the two most altering of theories, as they are applied to child maltreatment and its perpetuation are ecology theory and social learning theory. The basic tenants of ecology theory as it is applied to child maltreatment is four levels of ecology can be used to explain why some parents maltreat their children: the ontogeny or basic development of the perpetrator, the family, community and society in which he or she was embedded. (Belsky, 1980, pp.320-335) Social learning theory proposes that child maltreatment is an aspect of observational learning, where children observe aggressive behaviors and such behaviors become an unconscious drive to future behavior. (Bandura, 1973, p. 27) Both theories to some degree attest that childhood observation and treatment determine future actions and that adults who were maltreated as children will be more likely than other adults to maltreat childr
Ecological theory on the other hand stresses that influences beyond simple modeling can create the situation of child maltreatment. In both theories there is an allowance of the fact that the behavior of even our modern peers toward their children can bias the manner in which we act toward our own, though there are both clearly salient in the idea that childhood experience often trumps current modeling. 1665) Though it is clear that by right or not there ahs always been a level of neglect and or overt mistreatment of children that is beyond the pale and socially enforced, if not illegal. The father of social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977, 1979) in fact based much of his work on the manifestation of child maltreatment and how social learning influenced or failed to influence such manifestations. To many this would seem a very generalized expression of theory, but still others argue that because of the breadth and depth of child maltreatment there is simply no other way to form theory on the subject. Both relay heavily on the idea that experiences from the past seen and heard as well as those of the present influence the behaviors of individuals in parenting situations. (Fuller, Chermack, Cruise, Kirsch, Fitzgerald & Zucker, 2003, p. 170)Each of the theories in aspect creates a valid and logical look at the ways in which child maltreatment is originated and maintained in society, on both a personal and social scale as well as in the case of ecology theory on a environmental scale.
Common topics in this essay:
Critical Analysis,
Child Maltreatment,
,
Empirical Evidence,
Rothery Cameron,
O'Campo Aronson,
Albert Bandura,
Emery Laumann-Billings,
Comparison Contrast,
Smith Fong,
child maltreatment,
ecology theory,
social learning,
social learning theory,
learning theory,
maltreatment children,
own children,
understanding child,
empirical evidence,
applied child maltreatment,
belsky 1980,
expression maltreatment,
rothery cameron 1990,
ecology theory applied,
understanding child maltreatment,
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