Citation

Tanimura M, Matsui I, Kobayashi N. Acta Paediatr. Jpn. 1995; 37(2): 255-261.

Affiliation

Department of Child Ecology, National Children's Medical Research Center, Tokyo, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7793267

Abstract

Child abuse of 126 non-low birth-weight (non-LBW) cases reported from pediatric clinics of major hospitals in Japan in 1986 were examined. Compared to LBW infants abused children's medical problems were few (25.4%) but the presence of step-parents and a history of rearing outside the home were evident (41.3%). The abuse of a child with medical problems by real parents showed similar characteristics to abuse of LBW, occurring at 0-1 and 4 years and two types of abuser's problems were apparent; one problem was the lack of child rearing ability and the other was the inability to cope with the stress involved in child rearing. In abuse of a child by step-parents, most abusers expressed emotional problems with their abused children. Child abuse by a real parent following a period of non-home care occurred soon after the child returned home, and abusers complained that the abused child did not take to its real parents. Abuse of a child without medical problems by real parents occurred at or around birth and indicated a poor ability to rear a child due to parental problems or low tolerance to cope with child rearing. Abuse both of a child and siblings by real parents implied a deficiency of understanding and inability in child rearing due to parental problems that may have resulted in abuse of the children at 0-1 year. It seems that two processes are critical in non-LBW child abuse as well as LBW child abuse.

Language: en