Social Stress
Child Abuse Cause Social Stress
Stress brought on by a variety of social conditions raises the risk of child abuse within a family. These conditions include unemployment, illness, poor housing conditions, a larger-than-average family size, the presence of a new baby or a disabled person in the home, and the death of a family member. A large majority of reported cases of child abuse come from families living in poverty. Child abuse also occurs in middle-class and wealthy families, but it is better reported among the poor for several reasons. Wealthier families have an easier time hiding abuse because they have less contact with social agencies than poor families. In addition, social workers, physicians, and others who report abuse subjectively label children from poor families as victims of abuse more often than children from rich families.
Alcohol and drug use, common among abusive parents, may aggravate stress and stimulate violent behavior. Certain characteristics of children, such as mental retardation or physical or developmental disabilities, can also increase the stress of parenting and the risk of abuse. (1)
In this Section: Child Abuse, Child Abuse Types, Child Abuse Prevalence, Child Abuse Causes (including Intergenerational Transmission of Violence, Social Stress, Social Isolation and Family Structure), Child Abuse Effects, Child Abuse Reporting (including Abused Children Care and Children Prevention and Treatment Programs) and Child Support.
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