Causes of Abuse
Several factors contribute to child abuse. The most common factors include difficulty meeting the demands of parenthood. Some parents lack the skills to cope when the stress of childcare combines with other stressors. Without coping skills, parents’ tempers may get the best of them, causing them to abuse a child. Other factors contributing to child abuse include substance abuse, other types of domestic violence in the home, lack of parenting knowledge, economic stress, being young or immature, mental health and other emotional issues, and being in other difficult or abusive relationships (Dixon, Browne, & Hamilton- Giachritsis, 2005; Ney, Fung, & Wickett, 1992).
Stith et al. (2009), in a paper that looked across a large body of research, found that family cohesion, parents’ anger, stress, and low self-esteem, and whether the parent sees the child as a problem, are all strong predictors of child abuse. Lowell and Renk (2017) found that how a child’s and mother’s temperament and emotional regulation work together is a significant contributor to child abuse. If a mother’s and child’s temperaments do not mix well together, and if the mother also lacks the ability to regulate her emotions, then abuse becomes more likely. All of these factors contribute to the possibility of child abuse—no single factor has been identified as a universal cause of child abuse.