**5. Causes of child abuse**

24 Child Abuse and Neglect – A Multidimensional Approach

neglect cases.

Saudi Arabia.

**Relationship to the Child** 

percent of the confirmed cases, other relatives in 11 percent. In addition, Sexual abuse was more likely to be committed by males, whereas females were responsible for the majority of

On the other hand, **Table 2** shows data on the relationship of the abused child to the perpetrators extracted from the NFSR, Saudi Arabia. It illustrates that slightly more than one-third of the total cases of child abuse (37.9%) were reported by either of the parents or relatives, while approximately two-third of the cases were reported by others (which include: teachers, friends, house maids, neighbours, and healthcare professionals). Obviously, this data is not claimed to be representative of the status of child abuse in the whole country since both the registry and the program are at their early stage of life. In addition, these child abuse reports failed to specifically identify the exact perpetrators of the child abuse incidents involved in the reports. Similarly, the section on Saudi Arabia, in the article by Al-Mahroos (2007) that reviewed child abuse and neglect in the Arab Peninsula, did not mention the perpetrators of child abuse cases that the article has outlined with the exception of two reported cases of child abuse committed by two housemaids and were documented by secretly hidden cameras. This shortcoming in data collection is probably related in some way to a lack for a system of obligatory official legal and social interventions in child abuse cases in

> **Cases** Male Female Total %

Parents 63 65 128 32.1 Relatives 10 13 23 05.8 Others 133 115 248 62.1 **Total 206 193 399 100** 

In reality, the terms *child abuse* and *child neglect* are socially defined phenomena. Viewed on technical and legal basis, beating up a child severely, or breaking his or her bones by a total stranger, is likely to be considered by most, without hesitance, as a crime punishable by the law. However, the same act of violence on the child, when committed by the child's parent, may, in many societies, raise some second thoughts that, despite the probable unequivocal condemnation, may delay or prevent the initiation of necessary and appropriate forms of intervention. In other words, child-abuse laws globally raise difficult legal, cultural and political issues, putting the right of children to be free from harm on one hand, against the right of families to privacy and the rights of parents to raise and discipline their children without external interference, on the other. Accordingly, a number of complex issues are at hand when trying to define a specific form of maltreatment. That is because definitions of child abuse or maltreatment reflect cultural values and beliefs. Behaviors that are considered abusive in one culture may be considered acceptable (e.g., corporal punishment) in another

**Table 2.** Relation to the Abused Child of Persons Reporting the Abuse

**4. Controversies surrounding child abuse** 

Child abuse occurs across socioeconomic, religious, cultural, racial, and ethic groups. The causes of child abuse or maltreatment are numerous, multiple, and complex. There is no single profile that describes all families within which child abuse occurs. On the other hand, supportive, emotionally gratifying relationships with a healthy network of relatives or friends may help minimize the risk of parents abusing their children, especially during stressful life events. Based on this understanding, research has recognized a number of risk factors commonly associated with child maltreatment. However, the presence of these factors does not necessarily always result in child abuse and neglect. In other words, the factors that may contribute to child maltreatment in one family, such as poverty, may not result in child abuse in another family.

Risk factors associated with child maltreatment have been grouped in four domains: parent or caregiver factors, family factors, child factors, and environmental factors. The interaction of multiple factors across these four domains is recognized to be underlying child maltreatment incidents.

Parent or caregiver factors are related to personality characteristics and psychological wellbeing, history of maltreatment, substance abuse, attitudes and knowledge, and age. Family factors that may increase the likelihood of child abuse include marital conflict, domestic violence, single parenthood, unemployment, financial stress, and social isolation. Child factors do not imply that children are responsible for being victims of maltreatment. Rather, certain factors can make some children more vulnerable to abusing behavior. The age of the child, his or her physical, mental, emotional, and social development, may increase the child's vulnerability to maltreatment, depending on the interactions of these characteristics with the parental factors outlined above. Environmental factors are often present in combination with

parent, family, and child factors. They include poverty and unemployment, social isolation, and community characteristics such as violent neighborhoods, societal attitudes, and promotion of violence in cultural norms and the media.

The Cultural Reinforcers of Child Abuse 27

emotional growth and intellectual development. Finally, *corrupting* involves the adult 'missocializing' the child, stimulating the child to engage in destructive antisocial behavior, reinforcing that deviance, and making the child unfit for normal social experience. However, some scholars classify emotionally neglectful behaviors, such as rejecting and ignoring, as a form of neglect. Obviously there is common conceptual ground between some types of emotional maltreatment and some types of neglect, which serves to illustrate that the differ-

Neglect refers to the failure by the parent or caregiver to provide a child, where they are in a position to do so, with the conditions that are culturally acceptable as being essential for their physical and emotional development and wellbeing (Broadbent and Bentley, 1997; World Health Organization, 2006). Neglectful behaviors can be divided into different subcategories. Physical neglect is characterized by the parent's or caregiver's failure to provide basic physical necessities, such as safe, clean and adequate clothing, housing, food and health care. Emotional or psychological neglect is characterized by a lack of parents' or caregivers' warmth, nurturance, encouragement and support; it is noted here that emotional neglect is sometimes considered a form of emotional abuse or maltreatment. Educational neglect is characterized by a parent's or caregiver's failure to provide supportive educational opportunities for the child. Finally, environmental neglect is characterized by the parent's or caregiver's failure to ensure environmental safety, opportunities and

Sexual abuse is complicated to define. Some behaviors are considered sexually abusive by almost everyone; for example the rape of an 11 years old child by a parent. Other behaviors are much more equivocal, at least among certain sociocultural groups, such as consensual sex between 19 years old and 15 years old individuals. To judge whether behaviors such as the latter example constitute abuse or not requires a sensitive understanding of a number of definitional issues specific to child sexual abuse. A general definition of child sexual abuse proposes that child sexual abuse involves "the use of a child for sexual gratification by an adult or significantly older child/adolescent" (Tomison, 1995). Similarly, Broadbent and Bentley (1997) define child sexual abuse as "any act which exposes a child to, or involves a child in, sexual processes beyond his or her understanding or contrary to accepted community standards". Sexually abusive behaviors can include the fondling of genitals, masturbation, oral sex, vaginal or anal penetration by a penis, finger or any other object, fondling of breasts, voyeurism, and exhibitionism and exposing the child to or involving the child in pornography (Bromfield, 2005; US National Research Council, 1993). Unlike the other abuse types, the definition of child sexual abuse varies depending on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. For example, any sexual behavior between a child and a member of his or her family, such as parent or uncle, would always be considered abusive, while sexual behavior between two adolescents may or

ent maltreatment or abuse subtypes are not always neatly demarcated.

resources (Dubowitz, Pitts, and Black, 2004).

**6.3. Neglect** 

**6.4. Sexual abuse** 
