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Attribution Theory Of Child Abuse

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Method of Research

To research this topic I used Southern Maine Community College’s online library resources. That is where I began my research by only narrowing through highly vetted, scholarly articles. Eventually, I found one article that fit my topic, and I immediately went to that article’s own bibliography. That is where I further investigated their sources, and found even more reliable information.

Discussion

Attribution Theory, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is the theory of how someone may attempt to understand someone else by attributing that person’s feelings, beliefs, and intentions to their behavior. When children are abused, they can either attribute it to internal factors, or external factors. What I mean by this is that …show more content…

In 135 of these 4351 families, the parents were known victims of parental abuse, themselves. Each family was regularly visited by specific nurses, with the same nurse visiting the same family for each observation, leaving no variety. The nurses would observe the family's behavior, and how healthy the home conditions were for the children. Within the first year, .4% of the families with parents who were never victims of parental abuse were found abusing their own children, whereas 6.7% of the families who had been victims of abuse were found to be abusing their own children (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry). The parents who had been past victims of parental abuse had a considerably higher amount of risk factors when it came to their odds of unfit parenting. The main reason that this abusive cycle continues is because of untreated behavioral and mental issues of past victims. Some common risks associated with untreated childhood trauma are substance and alcohol abuse, high-risk sexual activity, aggression, violent criminal activity, mental health problems, and being unable to have healthy relationships (Child Development). Without the proper treatment, there will always a risk when an untreated abuse victim has a child of their …show more content…

Victims of physical, emotional, sexual, or neglectful abuse at the hands of their parents are all victims nonetheless, and should be protected. When someone is exposed to certain conditions for a major part of your life, it’s understandable to need help learning what forms of punishment are abuse or not. It has been proven that emotional and physical abuse disrupts a child’s healthy development (Journal of Family Violence). This is why I believe educating new parents on healthy parenting tactics and coping mechanisms should be taken much more seriously than it currently

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