Citation

ngeles Cerezo M. Aggress. Violent Behav. 1997; 2(3): 215-240.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The socia-interactional approach to child maltreatment has stressed the interactional nature of the processes involved in the abusive family. Consequently, the parent-child relationship has been studied through observational strategies which provide a fine-grained analysis of the stream of social exchanges that take place in the child socialization context. This particular area of research has provided empirical findings which contribute to recognizing the phenomenon of child maltreatment as a product of a dysfunctional parental-child relationship related to incompetent parenting. A comprehensive perspective on the advances in the interactional context of child abuse and neglect is presented through a selected review of abusive family interaction literature. Two major sections paralleling two important questions of theoretical and clinical utility are presented. The first question addresses the extent to which hypothesized behavioral differences, in amount and content and/or quality, identify parental and child behavior in maltreating households. The second looks at the theory-driven search for interactive patterns by which the ever-flowing stream of behavior crystalizes into maltreating parental practices. These issues are preceded by some metodological considerations of the observational studies. Findings related to coercion theory and to inconsistent socialization are also presented and discussed. A theoretical effort is made to integrate the findings from the research conducted in the field in order to provide a basis for future direction.