Trajectory of child abuse: a study on Development Psychopathology perspective

Author(s)

Lilian Paula Degobbi Bergamo

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2011-12-22

Examining board members

Marina Rezende Bazon; Clarissa de Antoni; Ana Maria Pimenta Carvalho; Maria Aparecida Crepaldi; Edna Maria Marturano

• Advisor: Marina Rezende Bazon

Abstract

Bérgamo, L. P. D. (2011). Trajectory of child abuse: a study on Development Psychopathology perspective. Tese de Doutorado, Departamento de Psicologia e Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto - SP. This research had as object of study the occurrence of child abuse, guided by the hypothesis of the existence of a trajectory to this problem, characterized by its continuity in time, based on an articulation between the development phase - type of abuse - type of consequence to the child. Developmental psychopathology was adopted as referential , in which the phenomena would occur due to problems in the system caregiver - child - environment, associated to risk factors in the context of \"development\" (characteristics of the caregiver and the child), \"interaction\" (characteristics of the relation caregiver - child and in family) and the \"broader\" (characteristics of the surrounding and perception of social support). The general goal was to verify the existence of a trajectory of the abuse, seeking to understand its constitution and maintenance in time. Specifically, the goal was to know how the abuse manifests in different phases of child development and identify the variables associated to them, working as risk or protection, in the three contexts. It is a research with a qualitative approach, and transversal delineation. Three groups of participants/mothers were formed, whose cases were notified to the child protection service of Ribeirão Preto/SP, considering the following ages: 0-3, 4-6 or 7-11 years old. A study of the child protection´s Record books was performed, following the sample criteria used in multiple case studies. It was used for data collection: (a) Social-demographic characterization questionnaire, to characterize the caregiver, the child, the family and the context they are in; (b) Interview routines about child development and caregiver - child interaction, to obtain information about child development, mother - child interaction and parental practices adopted, as well as abuse situations; (c) Child Behavior Checklist - CBCL, to obtain data about child behavior. Concerning data analysis, the information referring to each case was studied and analyzed, observing repetition patterns in each one, in order to understand their dynamics and the abuse in them. In a second phase a case comparison was carried out, observing divergences and convergences, enabling the constitution of three groups, by which three different analytical categories of the event were found. One of the categories describes a persistent trajectory of difficulties in the mother-child-environment - recurrent abuse, reflecting the continuity of the abuse in time and the elements associated to its maintenance. In that sense, stable risk factors were found in the three analyzed contexts, in addition, the children presented significant behavior problems. The other category found is difficulties in the mother-child-environment system conditioned to certain circumstances / limited in time - occasional abuse, in which the abuse manifests due to factors in the interactional context, in addition, the children presented some behavior problems, generally internalizing ones. The last category - Absence of significant difficulties in the mother-child-environment system - absence of abuse - summarizes the characteristics of a group in which no specific risk factors were found, but protection factors were. Therefore one may say that the hypothesis established for the study was proved. The results, however, brought additional information, indicating the existence of abuse situations that seem to be limited in time. Also, it presents a descriptive model involving the elements associated to the maintenance of the occurrence in time, as well as the most prominent characteristics of each age range, giving clues about the variables that are connected to the origin of the abuse and the ones that may sustain it in time. (AU)