Social Relationships of Physically Abused Schoolchildren (1993-1997)
Dataset Number: 112
Investigator(s): Salzinger, S.
Abstract: This study examined the social relationships and
behavior of physically abused schoolchildren. Its emphasis on peer
relationships was based on the fact that abused children’s basic
socializing and support system -- their relationship with family --
was expected to be damaged and give rise to internalizing and
externalizing problems. Their peer networks therefore were expected
to play a disproportionate role in their adaptive functioning in
many domains of development. Family relationships, operating through
social learning and social cognitive processes, were expected to
influence children’s social behavior, giving rise to aggressive and
antisocial behavior. Such behavior was hypothesized to raise the
risk for lowered social status with peers which in turn was expected
to lead to internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. For
abused children who managed to establish good relationships with
peers, such relationships might mitigate the effects of abuse on
later functioning.
The sample consisted of 100 physically abused urban schoolchildren (65
boys, 35 girls) ages 9-12 years and in grades 4-6, and 100
non-abused classmates case-matched for gender, age, and, as closely
as possible, for race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Control
subjects were screened for abuse by interviews with their caretakers
about the handling of disputes among household members, and by
scanning the Abuse Register to ascertain that their names did not
appear during the 4 years we were recruiting abuse cases.
Abused children were recruited from confirmed cases of physical abuse in
consecutive entries onto the Abuse Register from 1992 to 1996.
Children who were sexually abused were excluded, but children who
were neglected as well as physically abused were not. The first 100
families meeting study criteria and agreeing to participate were
enrolled. Practically all the children were of minority status.
Sociometric assessments were carried out in the 100 classrooms of the
abuse/control pairs to determine subjects’ sociometric status among
same-gender classmates; interviews were conducted with the children
about their friends and understanding of social relationships;
interviews were conducted with their parents about family and
household demographics, family stressful life events, mental health
of the child’s major caretaker, and intra-family relationships;
classmates rated the children’s prosocial and antisocial behavior;
and teachers and parents rated children’s problem behavior.
Results indicated that children’s social expectations regarding peers,
and two social behaviors -- aggressive and prosocial behavior --
mediated between abuse and positive and negative social status, and
between abuse and positive and negative reciprocity. Social
expectations and withdrawn behavior mediated between abuse and
positive social status. Social expectations and negative social
status (peer rejection) mediated between abuse and internalizing
problems.
Acknowledging that family contextual factors are important influences on
child outcome, we proposed an ecological model that designated
family stress as the principal exogenous factor, with effects on
outcome mediated through caretaker distress, partner violence, and
physical child abuse. Outcomes included parent-, teacher- and
peer-rated child behavior. Results were consistent with the
hypothesis that partner violence and caretaker distress, both
associated with family stress, increase the risk for child abuse and
thereby raise the child’s risk for problem behaviors.
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