Kindermishandeling en Verwaarlozing over de Levensloop
Artikelsamenvatting
Roos-Marijn Rohaan
2021-2022
Roos-Marijn Rohaan
, The battered-child syndrome
Kempe et al., 1985
Battered-child syndrome often not diagnosed or, if diagnosed, not handles properly.
Clinical manifestations
• Generally affects children ages 3 or younger
• Sometimes general health is below par:
o Poor skin hygiene
o Multiple soft tissue injuries
o Malnutrition
• Subdural hematoma is a frequent finding, also without skull or long bone fractures
• When parental assault is under consideration, radiologic examination can tell things the child is too
young/frightened to tell
Psychiatric aspects
• Adults who seek help voluntarily, usually respond well to therapy
o Often starts with fantasies of hurting child, then switches to slapping or spanking. After this, most
parents turn to psychiatrist filled with anxiety and guilt.
o Not known whether these disturbances in adults (parents) would progress to the point where they
would significantly traumatise the child.
• Parents, or at least one of them, in case of battered-child syndrome has shown to have low intelligence.
o Alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, unstable marriages, impulsivity, and minor criminal activities are
common
• Beating children is not confined to people with a psychopathic personality disorder or low SES, although
most cases do fit this description.
o In most cases, the defect in character structure is probably present; often parents may be repeating
the type of childcare practices on them in their own childhood
It’s hard to unveil this kind of maltreatment with parents, so interviewing grandparents, nurses, and others
can be helpful. Also questions like Does he cry a lot? Or Is he stubborn? can clear up a lot.
• Usually, the guilty parent is the one who gives the impression of being the more normal
Roos-Marijn Rohaan
, Emotional abuse and neglect (psychological maltreatment): a conceptual framework
Glaser, 2002
Emotional abuse and neglect: carer-child relationships that are characterised by patterns of harmful
interactions, requiring no physical contact with the child
• Motivation to harm the child not necessary
Emotional abuse and neglect cause significant harm to the child’s development and this harm extends into
adult life. This is found in studies where emotional abuse and neglect in childhood were linked to a wide
range of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive difficulties in later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood
(multiple studies for each stage of life).
Differences between various forms of child abuse and neglect
• Emotional abuse and neglect also exist independently. E.g.: physical neglect is often accompanied by
psychological neglect, but the converse is not always the case.
Overall definition; the following criteria must be met for an overall definition of emotional abuse and
neglect:
• Emotional abuse and neglect describe a relationship between the parent and the child (rather than an
event or a series of repeated events occurring within the parent-child relationship)
• The interactions of concern pervade or characterize the relationship (at the time)
• The interactions are actually or potentially harmful by causing impairment to the child’s
psychological/emotional health and development
• Emotional abuse and neglect include omission as well as commission
• Emotional abuse and neglect require no physical contact
APSAC framework describes 6 forms of psychological maltreatment:
• Spurning (verbal and non-verbal hostile rejecting/degrading)
• Terrorizing (behaviorthatthreatensorislikelytoharmphysicallythechildorplacethe child or the child’s loved
objects in danger)
• Exploiting/corrupting (encouraging the child to develop inappropriate behaviours)
• Denying emotional responsiveness (ignoring child’s needs to interact, failing to express positive affect to
the child, showing no emotion in interactions with the child)
• Isolating (denying child opportunities for interacting/communicating with peers or adults)
• Mental, health, medical, and educational neglect (ignoring or failing to ensure provision for the child’s
needs)
Categories of emotional abuse and neglect (Glaser, 1993)
• Emotional unavailability, unresponsiveness, and neglect
o Includes parental insensitivity
• Negative attributions and misattributions to the child
Roos-Marijn Rohaan