AN INTEGRATIVE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING CHILD ABUSE

There is a wide body of literature on child abuse occurring within the family where the perpetrators are parents, siblings and extended family members. Major foundational theories of family science each have their own limitations when applied to the context of child abuse within the family. The aim of this paper is to integrate assumptions and concepts from three fundamental theories (Biosocial, Life Course and Human Ecology Theory) to an internally consistent and coherent new framework, which addresses the complexity of child abuse and its impact on children, families and communities. The paper presents the assumptions and concepts that are derived from each specific theory to utilize in the foundation of the proposed model. It speaks to the purposes why these assumptions and concepts are chosen to synthesize into, and how each contributes to the comprehensiveness of the new model. The proposed framework embraces a bio-psycho-social perspective through a developmental trajectory. The new model provides a comprehensive understanding for clinicians and researchers on the nature, and the short-term and long-term implications of child abuse from the perspectives of victims, perpetrators, families and communities. The framework also proposes effective policy models in the area of prevention and intervention of child abuse. The proposed model has limitations regarding assessment due to framework's broad and complex scope.