Does Childhood Disability Increase Risk for Child Abuse and Neglect?

Abstract

In this article we review the empirical evidence for the presumptions that children with disabilities are at increased risk for child maltreatment, and parents with disabilities are more likely to perpetrate child abuse and neglect. Challenges to the epidemiological examination of the prevalence of child maltreatment and disabilities are discussed. We conclude that the evidence for the relationship between child maltreatment victimization of children with disabilities and perpetration by caregivers with disabilities remains equivocal due to variability in research samples, key definitions, and study methodology. Future research examining the link between disability and child maltreatment would benefit from more rigorous methodology and inclusion of a theoretical framework, such as the ecological model of child maltreatment. One potential pathway from disability to child maltreatment is presented. Knowing and understanding the link between disability and child abuse and neglect is an important step toward planning targeted and appropriate prevention and intervention activities.

Children with Developmental Disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: More Neglected and Physically Punished

“…The specialization of parenting roles by gender indicates that fathers are less likely to be able to actively parent their child and therefore reflect greater negligence. As for the difference in caregiving provided by mothers for children with SDD and MND, multiple studies making use of a variety of methodologies consistently found that child disability was a risk factor for caregiver neglect [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ], up to three times that of a typically developing child [ 71 ]. A potential reason for this discrepancy may lie in the difficulty in sustaining a warm responsive parenting style towards children with SDD [ 72 ], as developmental disabilities often present with signs that discourage active caregiver-child interaction such as low rates of social initiation and avoidant gaze among other behavioral characteristics [ 73 ].…”

“…Thirdly, as the MICS is a cross-sectional study with no longitudinal follow-up, causality cannot be ascertained between the significant factors discussed above, or if another external factor not examined in the MICS (such as caregiver disability; [ 67 ]) was responsible for the relations between child disability and parenting approaches.…”

Associations Between Child Disabilities and Caregiver Discipline and Violence in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

“…Any characteristic that makes some children more difficult to parent may increase the likelihood that parents will use harsher forms of discipline because those salient and challenging child attributes evoke chronically high levels of parental distress that increase the likelihood of frustrated or angry reactive parenting behaviors (Deater-Deckard, 2004). As such, children with disabilities may be the recipients of harsh parenting more often than children without disabilities (for reviews, see Stalker & McArthur, 2012;Westcott & Jones, 1999; but for caveats, see Leeb, Bitsko, Merrick, & Armour, 2012).…”

Preventing the Psychological and Developmental Outcomes of Child Maltreatment

“…4,11,66,67 Çocuğun engelli olması, özellikle annenin gözünde istenmeyen veya plansız doğumu, çocuğun ebeveyn ihmali riski oluşturan özellikleridir. 68,69 Çocuklarda diş çürükleri, ter kokusu, yetersiz beslenme, büyüme hızı geriliği, yaşıtlarından bilişsel düzeyde geri kalma gibi bulgular fiziksel ihmale bağlı olarak görülmektedir. Çocuğun sağlığının ihmali ile ise, ebeveynin hekimin çocuk ile ilgili önerilerine uymaması, sağlık takibini yaptırmaması gibi durumlarda gerçekleşmektedir.…”