Child Abuse: Pathological Syndrome of Family Interaction
ARTHUR H. GREEN M.D.1,
RICHARD W. GAINES 2, , and
ALICE SANDGRUND PH.D.3
1 Clinical Assistant Professor, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Box 32, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11203
2 Research Assistant, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Box 32, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11203
3 Staff Psychologist, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Box 32, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11203
The authors observed patterns of family interaction frequently encountered in 60 cases of child abuse. The maltreatment syndrome is described as the end result of three potentiating factors: the abuse-prone personality of the parent; characteristics of the child that make him vulnerable for scapegoating; and current environmental stress. Role reversal was a prominent feature in the psychodynamic makeup of these families. The parents tended to endow the child with negative characteristics derived from their own experience with rejecting parents.
