Re: variations in child emotional ,sexual, and physical abuses

["Deanna Perez" <dperez@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Stephanie,

I have an article forthcoming (CITE: Deanna M. Pérez.  2001. "Ethnic Differences in Property, Violent, and Sex Offending for Abused and Non-Abused Adolescents."  Journal of Criminal Justice Volume 29, Number 5) addressing whether a history of abuse (physical and sexual) was differentially related to delinquent outcomes for different ethnic groups.  My findings revealed no differences.  I've copied part of the text from the conclusion below.  I should note that in conducting my lit search, with respect to the joint effects of abuse and ethnicity (1) there wasn't a lot of literature out there and (2)  the findings were inconclusive with some finding distinctions in levels of depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders while others did find differences in self-concept and psychological functioning, including depression and anger levels. In other words, it's not clear whether there is a consensus.

"The finding of equivalent models across ethnic groups suggested that, although non-Hispanic Whites were more likely than Mexican Americans to be the victim of either type of abuse, the effects of physical abuse and sexual victimization on delinquency generally did not differ by the ethnicity of the respondent.  While the model for self-reported violent offending was found to be invariant across ethnic groups, it was shown that the effect of physical abuse on violence was not conditioned by the ethnicity of the respondent.  The results did suggest that sexual abuse had a stronger effect on the violent offending of NHW, although sexual abuse was significantly and positively related to violent delinquency for both groups.  It is likely that the dramatic differential exposure to sexual assault for MA and NHW (10 percent verus 24 percent, respectively), coupled with the significantly lower base rates of violent offending for NHW, influenced the difference in the magnitude of the r!
elationship between both groups.  Overall, the data demonstrated that the consequences of abuse do not show different patterns for Mexican-American than for non-Hispanic White adolescents.  These findings expand the growing body of evidence linking childhood maltreatment to future antisocial behavior and extend the literature in showing that these consequences cross ethnic boundaries."

>>> hamarmst@cmhc.umdnj.edu 04/30/01 10:16 AM >>>
Hi all,

Do we know from valid studies if there are cultural, socioeconomic reasons
for variations in child emotional, physical or sexual abuses in the US?Is it
our consensus that child physical and sexual abuses do NOT vary by these
factors? What does our most robust literature indicate?

Thanks in advance

Stephanie Hamarman, MD
Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry
New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ,Newark, NJ