Male vs Female Abuse towards children

["Andrew Percy" <a.percy@xxxxxxxxx>]

I would like to pick up on one point that has been made in 
relation to the relative rates of male and female perpetrated 
abuse. Several replies have mentioned that you need to factor in 
the differing amounts of time children spend with male and 
female carers when considering child maltreatment statistics. 
This would only be necessary if the amount of time spent with the
child was a causal factor in the perpetration of the abuse. I am 
not aware of any research which addresses this issue. However, I 
would have assumed that other risk factors, such as the 
personality of the carer, would be more important determinants of
child maltreatment than time spent with the child. 

To use the previously mentioned analogy of car and motorcycle 
fatalities, number of hours spent driving needs to be considered 
when interpreting fatality statistics because it is a useful 
indicator for a number of causal processes. The longer you drive 
the more likely you are to commit an error, to meet a bad driver,
to fall asleep at the wheel etc. You would also need to consider 
that fact that motorcycles offer less protection in the event of 
a crash and that motorcycles usually travel faster than cars and 
speed is a major determinant of accidents.

But can the same be said for the relative time spent in the care 
of males and females and risk of child maltreatment? I would 
suggest probably not. If a child lives with a violent father, 
the amount of time the child spends with the father relative to 
time spent with the mother is likely to have little impact on 
their risk of abuse provided they have some contact with the 
father.



Andrew Percy
----------------------
Andrew Percy
Research Statistician
The Centre for Child Care Research
Queen's University Belfast
5A Lennoxvale
Belfast
BT9 5BY
Tel: (028) 9027 4610
Fax: (028) 9068 7416