The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Burnett, Bruce B., D.S.W., A.C.S.W., dissertation, Boston College - "Psychological Abuse of Children: The State of Public and Professional Concern".The Ohio State University College of Social Wor

Burnett, Bruce B.

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Psychological Abuse of Children:The State of Public and Professional ConcernBruce B. Burnett, DSW, ACSWDoctorate: Boston College117AbstractSince 1962 when the Kempe article emerged on the "Battered Child Syndrome," therehas been concentrated effort to combat physical and sexual abuse of children and youth. Whilemost states included sections in their laws on "psychological abuse," little effort in research,litigation or treatment has been exerted to identify cases or inform the public as to its deleteriouseffects on children. One stumbling block in this effort has been the conviction that there waslittle public sanction to examine or prosecute these forms of abuse. This research project aimedat identifying potential areas to be defined as abuse, and to submit to a sample of citizensquestionnaires on child psychological abuse, and compare the results with a professional socialwork cohort.A questionnaire containing 20 vignettes repn,:,enting ten types of psychologically abusivebehavior was administered to a group of 843 responaents, both professional social workers anda random sample of citizens to further define the phenomenon of psychological abuse. Ratingsdetermined whether an event was abuse; its seriousness (0-5 scale) ; and whether interventionwas recommended (0-3 scale). Demographic data about respondent's age, gender, parenthoodand experience or exposure to child abuse was collected.When a vignette was considered abuse, was rated at least 1.5 on a seriousness scale and1.00 on an intervention scale it was included in a list of potential definitions of psychologicalabuse. Respondent characteristics were analyzed to determine their effects on the study results.Characteristics of the vignettes were also analyzed. The results were analyzed using the repeatedmeasures ANOVA (MANOVA), two-tailed T-Test, analysis of variance and Pearson'sCorrelation Coefficient.Study results supported definitions on nine types of psychological abuse of children; inorder of their seriousness: confining a child to a small space; public humiliation, singling outone child in a family for onerous chores or mistreatment; severe verbal abuse; coercing a childinto delinquency; threatening a child with injury or abandonment; refusal of psychologicaltreatment; not allowing social and emotional growth, and not providing a loving atmosphere forthe child. Immoral parental behavior, in and of itself, was rejected as a type of psychologicalabuse. Variables with respondent groups (citizen vs social worker; parent vs non-parent; malevs female; age range; or amount of experience with child abuse) did not substantively influencethe ratings. Citizen concern for child psychological abuse was demonstrated, thus supportingpublic (and in this research, professional) approval to adjudicate cases of psychological abuse.SummaryResearch ProblemChild abuse hit the public scene in the 1960's with the "Battered Child Syndrome"(Kempe et al, 1962) amid national outrage that children should be maltreated. The 1980's and1990's focused on sexual abuse. Most states included sections outlining sanctions onpsychological abuse, but there has been little use of these provisions in ongoing child abuseprevention due to the lack of resources, uncertain definitions and a concern that there was littleor no public commitment to l,rosecute these cases.118Research BackgroundEarly research on psychological abuse (emotional abuse, emotional maltreatment)centered on its definition (Giovanni and Becerra, 1979; American Bar Association, 1981). Otherauthors devoted their efforts to bringing the full problem of psychological abuse into the open(Baily and Baily 1986), and other authors concentrated on the serious effects of psychologicalabuse on its victims (Egelund, 1985). One research project (National Committee for thePrevention of Child Abuse, 1991) found more public concern about yelling and swearing atchildren, but there still was a gap in assessing whether the public felt that psychological abusewas a social problem. This research proposed to survey public opinion about the psychologicalabuse of latency age children, and then compare it to professional social work's attitude towardthe problem.MethodologyUsing the vignette approach (Giovanni and Becerra, 1979), brief family case scenariosof latency age children were constructed for the ten types of abuse found in the literature: 1.Close confinement of a child; 2. encouraging or forcing a child into delinquency; 3. notallowing the social and emotional growth of a child; 4. immoral parental behavior; 5. publichumiliation; 6. not providing a loving home; 7. singling out on child for special, unpleasanttasks or unfair treatment; 8. denying psychological treatment of a child when a qualified mentalhealth professional has prescribed it; 9. threatening a child with physical harm or abandonment,and 10. severe verbal abuse.Along with each vignette on the questionnaire, three questions were posed: 1. did thevignette depict child abuse or not?, 2. how serious was the abuse? (a six point scale from "notserious" to "extremely serious," and 3. what should be done? ("O-no major problem, donothing," "I-family should receive counseling," "2-family should be referred to court," to "4-child should be removed from the family"). At the end of the questionnaire, additional data wassought by asking respondents their age,(eight point range), sex, parental status, and experiencewith child abuse (five point scale from "I know no abused child" to " I know many abusedchildren") .The citizen respondent group was selected randomly from the city's voter's list. Theprofessional social workers were from the state professional social worker organization in whichthe citizens resided. The data was analyzed using the two-tailed t-test, alpha level of p= .05,the ANOVA and MANOVA.ResultsOf the 1413 mailed packets, 833 were returned (59%), 381 citizens and 452 socialworkers. The respondents were typically female (67%) and they were parents (67%). Thecitizens were middle aged (mean age 46) and had little contact with abused children. The socialworkers were a bit younger (mean age 37) and had a great deal of contact with abused children.At least 67% of the respondents judged 18 of 20 vignettes to be child abuse and theresults were statistically significant (two-tailed t-test). In 19 of 20 vignettes they rated thesevignettes between "serious" and "quite serious" on the seriousness scale (mean of 3.52 out ofa possible "6"). On the "what to do scale" the respondents felt that intervention was needed in19 out of 20 vignettes. This intervention mean (on scale between 0 and 3) was 1.52, with the119respondents wanting intervention somewhere between having the families get counseling andreferring them to court.Combining both vi:mettes for each type of abuse, the following definitions of abuse weresupported, only one (imrr;.;;''l.l parental behavior) was rejected: 1. Confining a child to a smallspace; 2. severe public hunlliation; 3. singling out one child in a fam,.'y for abusive behavior;4. severe verbal abuse; 5 ,"couraging or coercing a child into delinquency; 6. threatening achild with physical injury (oandonment; 7. denial of psychological treatment; 8. not allowingsocial or emotional growth, and 9. not providing a loving atmosphere.Comparing citizens and social workers there were no differences statistically in theirjudgements about whether the vignettes were abuse or not, on their seriousness ratings, or intheir selection of interventions. (T-test; ANOVA, MANOVA). The only variable that may haveinfluenced the respondents' judgement was gender. Female respondents consistently had higherratings on all the scale and they were statistically significant.Vignettes depicting a family where there was abuse over time and an effect on the childwere rated higher on all three scales than those with a single episode of abuse.The respondents in this study judged that these vignettes represented child abuse, wereserious and needed intervention. These findings lent support to the theory that there arestandards of behavior of adults towards children that are unacceptable, even though the child wasnot physically or sexually abused. The inclusion of a group of lay citizens demonstrating theirconcern for the victims of psychological abuse may encourage practitioners and researchprofessionals to assume there is more public support for intervention in this type of abuse thanoriginally thought.The respondents suggested intervention was necessary, yet their ratings were betweencounseling for the families and refer to court. This implied that the respondents may havefavored some mandated counseling. The usual remove or not remove the child may be lessrelevant in these cases.Utility For PracticeThe findings of this study would indicate that there is already concern for childpsychological abuse; moreover, there is public and professional support for using thepsychological abuse sections of the child abuse laws to adjudicate reported cases. The usualdecision around removing a child or not may not pertain to these cases, trials of counselingshould proceed first, then a referral to court if this is not effective. The nine types of abusesupported by these respondents might be seen as definitions of psychological abuse.There is a need for more research in child psychological abuse. Combining results ofresearch in this field with those of child development, the children of alcoholics and the fieldof "resilient" children would greatly enhance the field develop strategies for helping th' victimsand families of child psychological abuse. there is also a need for retrospective StU£L,;S; thereseem to be a paucity of cases (unlike physical and sexual abuse) where the outcome ofpsychological abuse may be studied.120ReferencesAmerican Bar Association "Standards Relating to Abuse and Neglect" Ballinger PublishingHouse, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Baily, T. and Baily, W. "Operational definition of Child Emotional Maltreatment: Final Report"National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Augusta, Maine May, 1986.Egelund, B. "The Consequences of Physical and Emotional Neglect on the Development of theYoung Child" Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, US Departmentof Health and Human Services, Washington, DC, November 9, 1985. p. 12-13.Kempe, C.H.; Silverman, F.M.; Steele, B.F.; Droegmuellar, W.; and Silver, me "TheBattered Child Syndrome" The Journal of American Medical Association. 181(1962)p.4-11.National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse "Public Attitudes and Behavior withRespect to Child Abuse Prevention: 1987-91." National Committee for the Preventionof Child Abuse, Chicago, 1991 p.3-13.121

Psychological Abuse of Children: The State of Public and Professional Concern

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Psychological Abuse of Children: The State of Public and Professional Concern

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