This dissertation for the Ph.D. Degree By

Antonio Estrada

has been approved at the Graduate School

of Psychology Fuller' Theological

Seminary October, 1995

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL CHILO ABUSE A

MEXICAN PERSPECTIVE

A Dissertation

Submitted to the

Faculty of the Graduate School of Psychology Fuller

Theological Seminary

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of

Philosophy (Marriage and Family Studies)

by

Antonio Estrada

Fall. 1995

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A project such as this is a long and difficult process. I am grateful to the many people

who have helped me to complete it. Without the help of'these people it would have been

impossible. I am grateful to the Inter American Division of Seventh Day Adventists Church

and Montemorelos University who sponsored my study economically. Being a student in the

Unites States from a third world country, is impossible without a scholarship or grant from

these institutions.

I want to express a deep appreciation to my dissertation committee, Dr. Jack

Balswick, his friendship, availability and leadership have been invaluable. He provided many

hours of his expertise in helping me on data analysis. My other two committee members, Dr.

Janice Strength, and Dr. Cameron Lee, gave of their wisdom and insights which were

essential in the completition of this project.

I am specially indebted to my English speaking friends (Dr. Loron Wase, Dr.

Jaime Cruz) who provided valuable suggestion supervising my report-writing and

proof-reading this manuscript. Their value is largely appreciated. I would also like to thank to

Dr. Alfredo Mejia for his contribution in the computer analysis, his expertise in

helping me was invaluable.

I want to thank the students who filled out the questionnaire. Their willingness to

participate have been possible this task. The information that they gave me is the core of

this dissertation. I want to express a deep gratitude to the Figueroa's family by

his hospitality

iii

I am grateful to all my fellow coworkers at Montemorelos University. who

encouraged and supported me in my teaching duties, who are committed to Christian

education.

IV

DEDICATION

To the Almighty God:

Who sustained me with his promises. Who allowed me to be his child and to know

how he loves children. Because he let me be a child in a earthly family, and because he

grants me the privilege and responsibility to be a father, and to care for my child as he cares

for His children.

To Ms Ellen White: In memorial

Whose books inspired me to dedicate my life to minister to the family of God.

To Olga:

My lovely wife, by her support at all times, especially in stressful moments. By her

love that encouraged me continue, to do the best. By her understanding when I did not

dedicate enough time to be with the family in order to complete an assignment. For her

sacrifice to live in a foreign country wit a limited budget. Because she is my traveling

companion in the journey of life. I am grateful to her because of her effort and commitment to

build a Christian family. This dissertation is as much hers as it mine, without her support. I

would have never made it.

To Nisim:

My beloved son who has been teaching me how to be a Christian parent. Who has

been teaching me how loving, confident and confiding are the children in their

v

parents. How I should trust God's promises. I am grateful to him because he allows me to

enjoy my parenting task.

To my mother Eulalia and (Father Rosendo, in memorial)

\Nho gave me life, who cared for me, who reared me in poverty, but, in a happy

family. I am grateful to her and to all my brothers and sisters who shared all the painful and

enjoyable moments. They contributed to my being what I am.

VI

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL CHILD ABUSE A

MEXICAN PERSPECTIVE

A Dissertation

Submitted to the

Faculty of the Graduate School of Psychology Fuller

Theological Seminary

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of

Philosophy (Marriage and Family Studies)

by

Antonio Estrada

Fall,1995

2

ABSTRACT

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL CHILD ABUSE:

A STUDY OF MEXICAN PARENTS

In the domestic violence literature, the issue of physical child abuse has been

widely researched because of its impact on the family and on the society in general.

Children are the most vulnerable members of the family and are most in need of

protection. Children need a healthy family environment free from physical abuse in

order to develop a healthy personality.

Although a number of theories attempt to understand the problem of child

abuse, little attention has been given to gender differences. The focus has usually

been on the personality of the individual, or on socioeconomic variables as the

source of parental abusiveness. Although gender has recently been taken into

account, it has been utilized as part of an effort to identify the "profile" of the typical

child abuser, or to understand how parents differ in their disciplinarian methods,

rather than as a major variable in understanding child abuse.

Most importantly, the majority of studies have only focused on the mother,

while they have completely ignored the father or attempted to make a comparative

assessment of their role in abuse. Finally, little research has been conducted from

the victim's point of view and none has asked the child to assess the relative

abusiveness of their mother and father. This study focus upon gender differences

between the abuser (mothers and fathers) and gender differences of the abused

(sons and daughters) in regard to physical child

3

abuse. The results of the dissertation indicate the important relationship

between gender of the parents, gender of the child, and abuse.

Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the findings are

given.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Child abuse, "recently 'discovered' by researchers" (Steinmetz, 1987, p. 728), has

been accepted as a twentieth - century phenomenon (Fontana, 1992). Although recently

"discovered" it is not new. "It is simply attracting greater public awareness alongside the

deteriorating image of the family as a warm, comfortable, and supportive environment"

(Alexander, 1993, p. 229).

We now know that the magnitude of violence against children was previously

underestimated. Our society refused to recognize the scope or the gravity of child abuse.

"Child abuse and neglect remained largely as hidden problems" (Besharov, 1990, p. 7),

After Kempe (1962) and his colleagues coined the term "the battered child syndrome"

three decades ago in a paper published in Journal ot the American Medical Association,

the literature on domestic violence has increased tremendously. More than 15 theories

have been formulated to explain the etiology of child mistreatment, such as

intra-individual, psycho-social and socio-cultural theories (Belsky, 1978; Garbarino,

1977; Gelles, 1980; Steinmetz, 1987). Common characteristics of violent parents have

been identified in the research literature. The accumulation of present research however

shows that this is a complex issue. There are a number of factors that contribute to child

abuse.

5

As a result, the initial attempt to give a "profile" of the typical child abuser has

been largely abandoned.

Recently, the etiology and sequelae of child abuse have been approached from a

broader base, taking into account not just the individual alone, but also the family, the

community, and the culture in other words a macro-socio-cultural approach. This is

because violence within the family is a complex and disturbing problem, which must be

seen as a symptom of family distress. "Violence and extreme aggression in the family is a

coping/problem-solving mechanism" (Flanzer, 1982, p. 9). It is an outward sign of

problems within the family, a dysfunctional relationship between parents and children.

and is a major and pervasive social problem.

Although this sensitive topic is a relatively new area of research, it has roots in the

early history of civilization (Radbill, 1987; Zingler & Hall, 1991). Children from different

cultures have suffered the effects of parental abuse. Although aggression toward

children is a universal problem (Villanueva, 1992). it takes particular characteristics in

different countries and in different families. No culture, no country, no family. no individual

is immune to this problem (Garbarino. 1977) This "complex and insidious problem ... cuts

across all sectors of the society" (Ciccheti & Carlson, 1989, p. xiii).

It also cuts across both time and national boundaries. Nine hundred years before

Christ, Soranus, a Persian physician, in his pediatric treatise Practica Peurorutn,

suggests that the prominent umbilicus and hernia seen in some

6

children in Baghdad harems, may indicate these children had been struck

violently (Lynch, 1985). In Egypt and India, infanticide was practiced. In

Greece, Seneca, Plato and Aristotle approved of the killing of defective

newborn (Zigle & Hall, 1989). Early Roman law gave the parents a patria

potestas that amounted to complete power over their children (Belsky,

1980). In Mexico, before the arrival of Spaniards, among the Nahuatl tribe

punishment of children was prohibited during their first years of life. After

that, it was permitted. Rebellious children could be punished by limiting them

to half a tortilla or tying up their hands and feet and making them lie down on

wet ground. Sometimes children were also forced to breath the smoke of a

hot chile pepper (Preman reports, 1986).

In Europe, in the Middle Ages, children were ignored, neglected and forced

to work as adults, sometimes at very dangerous jobs. They had to cooperate in

supporting the family (Alzaga, 1983). Recently, in The United States, the American

Medical Association stated that more than a million children are abused each year Some

of these abused children (between 2,500 and 5,000) died as a result of injuries (Fink &

McCloskey, 1990). In France, during 1983, 40,000 children were abused (Rivas. 1992).

In Iran, adolescents were used to detect mines in the Iran-Iraq war (Villanueva, 1992).

During 1992 in Mexico, 65,055 abused children were treated in public hospitals,

and 10 million children between the ages of 8 to 17 years old were obliged to work in

order to contribute to the family budget (Loredo, 1994). In the Dominican Republic, 33

out of 100 college students were victims of abusive

7

parents before 18 years of age (Ruiz, 1990). In Puerto Rico, during 1983, 35,344

children were mistreated, according to the Social Department (Lopez, 1992). In Bolivia,

according to UNICEF reports, 3000 to 5000, children live on the streets, and 100,000

work there. In Colombia, during 1988, 4.5 million children out of a population 28 million

live in extreme poverty (Loredo, 1994).

In Latin American, according to Dr. Rodrigo Crespo chairman of Inter American

Institute for Children, almost 5 million children are neglected, and 20 to 25 million are

semi-neglected by their parents (Castro. 1986). According to Ruiz (1993), in Latin

American and Caribbean countries, nearly 30 million children are obliged to work. most

of them on the streets.

According to the Executive director of UNICEF (Corrales, 1992, p.147), more than

25 million children are dying each week around the world, victims of malnutrition and

controllable diseases. Corrales ask, "Can we remain indifferent when 3/4 of children and

youth around the world are suffering from poverty, ignorance. And disease, while the

other 1/4 are suffering the moral misery of our society. Idleness and abundance?"

Having these facts in mind we need to ask ourselves, Who physically abuses

children? Who mistreats vulnerable babies and defenseless infants? Who are the

batterers? Some perpetrators are strangers, but the vast majority of abusers are child's

own the parents. Kashani (1992) states that "eighty five per cent (85%) of child abuse is

inflicted by a person the child knows, usually the

8

father or the mother" (p.184). Children are at risk in their own homes. The

perpetrators are those who are supposed to care for and love them.

But, why are children mistreated by their relatives? Who is the abusive parent in the

family? Why would parents mistreat their own children? The earliest studies focused on

mental illness or intra-individual pathologies of the abusive parent as an explanation. This

approach considered individual personality characteristics as the causes of child abuse.

This emphasized chromosomal aberrations, alcohol, hormonal imbalance. Poor

emotional control and narcissistic traits as causes that could lead parents to abuse their

children. Later, other researchers, thought that child abuse was caused by social factors,

such as poverty, unemployment, isolation, ignorance and stress. Some researchers tried

to explain child abuse by taking into account the family context. They examined the

structure of the family, and factors such as family size and family power as causes of child

abuse. Others held that cultural values or lack of them were the causes of abuse against

children. Altogether more than 15 theories about domestic violence have been developed

trying to explain this complex problem. Recently. Garbarino (1977) and Belsky (1978).

Have developed an ecological approach as a model to explain this problem.

Now, researchers agree that no single factor can be used to explain child abuse.

To attribute domestic violence solely to individual characteristics or to social stress or to

cultural values is to explain a complex problem from an unrealistically narrow point of

view. Gelles and Straus (1988) stated that "stressful

9

life circumstances are the hallmark of the violent family. The greater the stress individuals are

under, the more likely they are to be violent toward their children" (p. 85).

Since most child abuse cases occur within the family environment, it is important to

understand why parents mistreat their children. It is even more important to discover who

is the abusive parent in the family. This study focuses on the gender of the abusive parent.

Among the important questions are: Do fathers and mothers differ in regard to physical

child abuse? Do gender differences exist among the abused children? Do fathers and

mothers abuse sons and daughters equally?

Present literature concerning American society holds that the mother is more involved

than the father in physical child abuse. In surveys, clinical, medical and police reports, the

mother is more often mentioned as the source of violence. In a chapter in Oates' book, Child

Abuse and Neglect, the researchers quoted by the author state that abusive mothers fall into

the following groups. Those who are deficient in mothercraft skills, passive mothers with low

affect, anxious mothers with an excess of stressors. and mothers having psychological

disorders. Another classification of family profiles mentioned in the chapter is young,

depressed and immature mothers, deprived mothers, angry and hostile mothers. But is this a

correct family profile? What about the fathers?

Some researcher s point out that the father can be mare abusive that N? 8 mother.

Bradley and Peters (1991) state that "although the majority of child

10

abuse studies utilized only mothers; generalization of the results is

weakened by the neglect of male abusers" (p. 459). Oates (1986)

established that "there is also considerable mention of mothers, but little

mention of fathers... There is a paucity of research data available on the

fathers, so much of the literature quoted refers to mothers" (p. 21).

Most importantly, no research has yet been conducted from the point of view of the

victims that is, the child, as to which parent is more abusive. For this reason, this study is

of paramount importance, since it considers the response of the youngsters involved.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate who is the abusive parent, and

who is the most abused adolescent (whether sons or daughters) in a Mexican milieu. Do

fathers and mothers engage in the same type of abuse against their children? Do socio

economic variables have the same influence upon mothers as upon fathers? Are the

sons and daughters punished equally by fathers and mothers?

The overview of this dissertation is as follows: In chapter two, there will be a general

literature review of physical child abuse in American families dealing with abuse by both

fathers and mothers. We will then consider studies of Hispanics living in the USA.

followed by studies of Mexican families living in Mexico. I will conclude the chapter by

considering how the causes that lead to child abuse in the United States have relevance

within a Mexican cultural context.

11

In chapter three, I will describe the methodological procedure used in con-

structing the questionnaire, defining the sample, gathering the data and the statistical

procedure used to test the hypotheses. In chapter four the findings will

be presented. Chapter five will be devoted to discussing the findings and addressing

the following types of questions. Are there parallels between the findings of this study

and American findings on child abuse? If so, how can these similarities and

differences can be explained? Finally, the last chapter will be devoted to retrospective

and prospective comments. In the light of the results, I will discuss methodological,

theoretical, and practical implications and offer suggestions that might serve to

enlighten our understanding of child abuse within a Mexican context.

12

CHAPTER II

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARENTAL CHILD ABUSE

The purpose of this chapter is to present a general review of the literature on

physical child abuse, in the United States, and literature related to physical child abuse in

the Mexican population.

Literature Review on Child Abuse

In the early 1960s, almost no one was concerned about child abuse. To fear being

hurt at home would have seemed absurd. Home was thought of as safe and the best

possible place for a child to grow up. To fear a relative was an unthinkable idea. Parents

and other family members were thought to be capable only of loving and caring for

children. Children learned to fear strangers. They were taught that they might be molested

by evil men on dark streets. but not by their loving relatives at home.

Scholars focusing on family issues also did not think of violence as a serious family

problem. Violence was thought to be a rare social phenomenon. As a result, the Social

Science literature of the day contained "virtually no articles on family violence" (Gelles,

1992, p. 17) prior to 1970. Steinmetz (1987) states that .O'Brien .could not find a single

title in the Journal of Marriage and the Family from 1939 to 1970 that included the word

violence.

13

But all this has changed. With the passing of time a large volume of literature has

accumulated that points to the conclusion that family violence, and child abuse in

particular are not rare, but are a significant family and social problem. Now the danger of

the dark streets has penetrated the walls of the home and has become a part of our

lifestyle. "Offenders are not strangers climbing through windows, but loved ones, family

members" (Gelles and Straus, 1988, p. 18). This is a paradox.

Physical child abuse is a current problem in the United States as well as in other countries.

Child abuse is not only a family matter but a social problem, as well. The widespread

violence against children is emphasized in a report by the U.S. Department of Justice,

which states that there were at least 4.1 million cases of family violence between

1973-1981 (Kashani, et ai, 1992).

Gil (1970) estimated that between 2.53 and 4.07 million adults knew of families

involved in child abuse. In 1985, studies affirmed that more than a million children are

physically or emotionally injured by their parents each year and that more than 2,500 to

5,000 die (Fink and McClosky, 1990). The First National Family Violence Survey,

conducted in 1976, revealed that 1.4 million of children aged three to seventeen were

maltreated by their parents (Gelles and Straus, 1988). The findings showed that some

American children were slapped, spanked, punched, beaten, and some were threatened

with a weapon by the parents.

14

Ten years later, in 1985, the Second National Family Violence Survey was

carried out (Straus and Gelles, 1992). Six thousand families were surveyed by

telephone interviews. The survey showed that some forms of violence had declined,

while others remained at the same level. The findings revealed that more than

700,000 children were victimized during the year of the survey.

In most of these studies, the mother appears to be the abusive parent. This

finding agrees with the findings in other countries. But, is it true that the mother is in

actuality the parent who commits more abuse toward her children? What about the

father? If he is not an abuser, why not? If both parents abuse their children, are there

differences in the levels of abuse and severity of injuries?

Some studies show that mothers and fathers differ in their methods of pun-

ishment. Eron, et al. (1971), established that fathers tend to use more instigation

toward their children than mothers, and mothers use more punishment than fathers.

In the same study, it was found that fathers used withdrawal of love as punishment

for girls but not for boys and less physical punishment for girls than the boys.

Evidence for Greater Abuse by Females

Some writers believe that general violence is a male issue. But in a study

carried out by Straus, Gelles, and Steinmetz (1980), rates of female violence were

comparable to male violence. According to the 1985 report of the Federal Bureau of

Investigation "in 1984, 806 husbands were killed by their wives, while 1,310 wives

were slain by their husbands" (Gelles and Pedrick, 1990, p.67).

15

Data from a sample of 336 undergraduates in a study by Thompson

(1991), reveal that physical aggression in dating relationships is not gender

oriented.

Boys and girls reported equal use of physically aggressive behavior in dating

relationships. In a small sample of 14 girls and 4 boys in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Frey and

Hoppe-Graff (1994) found that there is no general difference in aggressive behavior

between girls and boys. However, in the middle class group, they found that boys

score higher in aggression than girls.

Summarizing findings on cross-cultural studies on societies, Hines and Fry

(1994), citing other relevant studies, ( Burbank 1987; Cook, 1992: Frey, 1992;

Glazer, 1992; Schuster, 1983) stress the idea that although the magnitude of male

violence is greater, this does not mean that females are always nonviolent. Studies

done in Venezuela, China, Zambia and Zapotec Mexicans reveal that women do

engage in physical aggression.

It is well known that violence is a female issue, but in overall violence, men are

more violent than women. Straus and Smith (1992: 247) state that "the rates of

assault and murder by women are a fraction of the rates by men."

But on the issue of physical child abuse it is different. Generally, the mother

appears as the abusive parent in the American family (Finkelor et al, 1983; Gelles,

1990; Gelles, 1972; Gelles and Cornell, 1990; Straus et al, 1980). The findings show

that females appear more often as the abusive parent in violent American families. In

one of the earliest studies conducted by David Gil, (1971), focusing on child abuse,

the characteristics of the perpetrator and the

16

circumstances in which maltreatment occurred, mothers or mother substitutes (47%) were

found to be more abusive than fathers (39.2%). It was found in this study that severe injury

was committed more often by mothers than by fathers, especially by single women. This

findings are consistent with Gelles's study (1980), where mothers are more likely to use

physical violence against their offspring than fathers. Dibble and Straus (1992) found that

mothers are more likely to slap their children that fathers. A study by Brayden (1993) of 949

maltreated children concluded that 37.5 % of the cases involved the mother as the abusive

parent, 31.3% the father, 7.8% a relative or baby-sitter, and 23.4% an unknown or other

person. Regarding child neglect, reports received by the police confirm that females are

more abusive than males. Ninety four (94.3%) involved mother figures and 4.5% fathers,

and 1.19 a relative or baby sitter.

Caliso and Miller (1979) found in their study of maltreated adolescents that mothers

are more often cited as the source of abuse. This study also reported that mothers commit

more mild forms of violence, and that the most common form of mild violence reported was

hair pulling. Again mothers (58%) pulled hair more than fathers (45%).

In the "First National Survey of Family Violence," mothers were significantly more likely

than fathers to report physical aggression towards their offspring (Straus and Gelles, 1990).

With regard to the Munchausen syndrome by proxy, the mother was usually the perpetrator,

Jones (1986).

17

In the 1975 "Family Violence Survey" higher rates of physical punishment and

physical abuse were found to be present for mothers than fathers. The rate for

abusive fathers was 10.1 per hundred children, whereas the rate for mothers was

17.7 per hundred children, this represents a 75% difference. However, in 1985, in the

Second National Family Survey, the rates for mothers and fathers were found to be

more similar (Wauchope and Straus, 1992).

Oates (1986) presents research looking for the profile of the abuser. He

comments that by far the greater number of studies focused on the mother as the

abuser. In his book, he reports having found twenty - four studies that focused on

mothers, whereas only three focused on fathers. Several studies (Farber and

Joseph, 1985; Felzen and Showers, 1985; Gelles, 1980; Gil, 1971; Jones et aI.,

1986; Kelly et aI., 1992; Ruiz, 1993; Sariola and Uutela, 1992; Van de Rijt-Plooij,

1993; Wolfner & Gelles 1993) have shown that the more frequent abuser was the

mother.

Felzen and Showers (1985) stated that mothers were the most frequent per-

petrators of abuse. Farber and Joseph (1985) state, "in the relationship of the primary

abuser, out of the total number of natural parents studied 44 (57.1 %) of the mothers

were abusive as compared to 24 (31.2%) of the fathers. In the Johnson and Showers

(1985) study, mothers were found to be the most frequent perpetrators of

maltreatment. A study by Justice and Justice (1976) found that mothers were the

perpetrators in 50% of the reported cases, while fathers or father figures, were

involved in 45%. Burne and Newberger (1979) stated that

18

females are more likely to use violence in the home setting. They found that 68% of

mothers and 58% of fathers reported at least one abusive act toward their children

during the survey year.

Looking for characteristics of abusive parents, Steele and Pollock found that

mothers were more frequent abusers. In another sample of 20 couples, 50% of the

abuses was committed by mothers, and 45% by fathers (Justice and Justice, 1976).

Studying the amount of marital violence witnessed and father-mother-child abuse in a

sample of 185 children aged 7 to 13, O'Keefe (1994), found that the vast majority of

mothers (90%) reported using some forms of abuse in order to discipline their

children. Mothers also reported that 85% of fathers used some form of abuse in child

discipline. Looking at Parent-Adolescent conflict, Wierson, et al, (1990) found that

regardless of the gender of adolescent. mothers and their adolescents have more

problems than fathers and their adolescents.

Evidence for Greater Abuse by Males

Not all scholars agree with the idea that mothers are more aggressive than

fathers. They claim that if mothers are seen as more aggressive, it is due to the fact

that research and treatment programs are mostly designed to focus on mothers and

therefore, females are overrepresented. Cicchetti and Carlson doubt "if any mother

would actively and purposefully maltreat their children; instead, many are the victims

of circumstances that lead them to lose control with

1

9 children, to neglect their children's emotional and physical needs" (1989, p.

246).

Some scholars think that if the studies would address them it would be shown

that fathers are the more abusive parent in violent homes. This assumption is based

on the idea that it is the man who is more violent in all types of violence (Kurt, 1993). In

studying violence and aggression in general, we see over and over again that men

commit more violent acts than women and are also more violent by nature than

women. According to Archer (1994), Prodi, et al (1977) and Eagly and Steffen (1986),

on the average, men were found to be more aggressive than women. Ahmand and

Smith (1994) affirm that most research has found that, in general, males are

consistently more aggressive than females. With regard to violence occurring in

marriage, statistics show that it is the wife who is maltreated and injured

approximately 95% of the times. Males are far more likely to produce physical injury in

females than the reverse (Gerberg, 1991).

In a study on marital violence, Frude (1994) discovered that many more

women have been hurt as a result of domestic violence than men. Moreover,

because men are more aggressive than women, men commit more acts of ag-

gression which result in injury or death (Archer, 1994). In his Brazilian middle class

sample, Frey and Hope-Graff (1994) found that boys on the average are more

9ggressive than girls. Analyzing sex-differences in aggressive behavior,

Eagly and Steffen (1986) found that men delivered and received more

2

0 aggression than women. Mangold and Koski (1990) stated that in their

sample males were more likely to report being violent outside of home. They

also found that males are more likely than females to be aggressive against a

brother. Bjorkqvist, (1992) quoted by Hines and Fry (1994, p. 215), stated that

"the results reveal that boys are consistently more physically aggressive than

girls."

The feminist movement affirms that it is men who are violent (Oobash & 00bash,

1992, see also, Schechter 1982, quoted by Kurz 1994). Some writers such as Gilbert,

Archer, and Lloyd go further, stating that "violence is a male problem rather than a

human problem" he add that "male violence may even outrank disease and famine

as the major source of human suffering" (Archer, 1994,p.1).

In regard to physical child abuse, fathers appear as abusers also. But several

studies describe only possible factors related to child abuse, such as introversion of

the fathers (Hyman, 1977), or psychopathological fathers (Oates, 1986). In a study

by Sariola and Uutela (in Finland, 1992), "fathers committed severe violent acts more

often than mothers." In studies where single mothers and single fathers were

compared, fathers used more severe violence than mothers, (Gelles, 1989; Sariola

and Uutela, 1992).

In a Caliso and Milner (1992) study, fathers were cited as the main source of

severe violence. This finding agrees with the Gelles study (1989) where fathers were

found to commit more severe and very severe violence toward their offspring.

Comparing single fathers with single mothers regarding mild violence,

2

1 Caliso and Milner (1992) found that single fathers were the most common per-

petrator. Gelles (1989) found that single fathers have higher rates of severe and very

severe violence when compared with single mothers. This finding corresponds with

that of Wolfner and Gelles (1993).

In a review of reported cases of abuse in England, Fowler and Stockford (1979)

found that although mothers and fathers abuse their infants equally, three out of four

adolescents were maltreated by their fathers. In looking for family characteristics of

violence in Wisconsin families, Kadushin and Martin (1981), found that 492 (59%)

fathers and 338 (41%) mothers were reported as abusive. Looking for ethnic

differences and abuse among Anglo, Hispanics and Black families, Lindholm and

Willey (1986), found that among Anglos and Hispanics, fathers were more frequently

suspected of abuse.

Literature Review on Child Abuse by Hispanic Parents

As we saw in the general literature review, there are contradictory findings as to

whether American mothers or fathers abuse their children more. This contradiction

seems to be due to the fact that research relies largely on responses from mothers.

We now need to know what is happening among Hispanic families living in the

United States. Since poverty, age of the parents, cultural values, unemployment,

family size, etc. are related to child abuse, and most Hispanic families face these

issues, it is expected that more violence against children will occur in Hispanic

families.

22

Straus and Smith (1992) states that "the violence rate in Hispanic families is

much greater than the rate in non-Hispanic, white families ... Hispanic parents have a

higher rate of child abuse even with statistical controls for poverty, youthfulness,

urbanization, and other demographic factors" (p. 364). Tharp, et aI., (1968) found that

Spanish-speaking Mexican-Americans when compared with English-speaking

Mexican-Americans believe in greater parental strictness.

Comparing child-rearing attitudes among Chicanos, Anglos and Black parents,

LeVine and Bartz (1979) discovered that Chicano parents are strictness oriented and

were less egalitarian than Anglos and Blacks. Buriel, et aI., (1979) state that

Mexican-Americans, in comparison to Anglo-Americans, "were referred for child

abuse and neglect more often by professional public agencies" (p. 220).

According to Straus and Smith (1992), violence is a major problem in Hispanic

families .. It is estimated that there are "about 288,000 severely assaulted Hispanic

children per year" (p. 356). A report in American Association for Protecting Children,

states that Hispanic children constituted 12% of all reported cases of physically

abused children (in Straus and Smith, 1992). If it is true that Hispanic parents are

more violent than non-Hispanics, who is the abusive parent in the Hispanic families?

According to stereotypes, men should be the violent parent. But what does the

evidence available suggest?

Evidence for Greater Abuse by Hispanic Mothers

Latino women are considered as hembras (as opposed to machos). Hem-

bristic behavior requires a woman to be feminine, self-reliant, full of integrity,

23

honor, fidelity, docility and passivity. It is believed, according to Lara-Cantu

and Navarro-Arias (1986) that Hispanic females contribute to the

continuance of male superiority. Bermudez refers to Mexican women as

"exaggeratedly submissive to the man to the point that she accepts infidelity

as natural. This occasionally creates an emotional crisis resulting in

mistreatment of the children" (Silva, 1975, p. 45).

In analyzing the mother-daughter relationship, Penaloza found that in the child's

first year of life mothers care for and feed daughters more than they do sons.

Regarding mother-son relationships, he found that in early childhood the mother is

not only close to him, but dominant over him. As the years pass, the mother become

more permissive. However, it is "not unusual for children to be beaten, especially by a

dissatisfied and bitter wife unable to strike her husband" (Penaloza, 1968, p. 695).

Mirande (1984) affirms that although Hispanic fathers inflict more severe punishment

on their children, Hispanic mothers punish their children more often.

Evidence for Greater Abuse by Hispanic Fathers

Hispanic males, and Mexican males in particular, are stereotyped as dominant.

This concept is sustained in popular and social science literature. as well as in the

mass media. According to stereotypes of Latino culture appearing in social science

literature, men are thought to be more violent toward their offspring. Generally,

Latino men are stereotyped as machistas. In the existing literature (Diaz-Guerrero,

1955), the male status rests on strong, aggressive

24

behavior. Octavio Paz (quoted by Mirande, 1988), refers to Mexican men as the

gran chingon. "The verb chingar has numerous and diverse meanings, but it always

connotes some form of violence ... the gran chinqon is aggressive, insensitive,

unpredictable, and invulnerable" (p.94).

Mexican family structure is described as patriarchal and authoritarian, based

on the belief in man's superiority over woman. Penaloza states that "the woman's

position on the other hand is completely tied in with her marital status, and her

behavior is rigidly circumscribed by it" (1968:683). According to Penaloza, social

scientists believe that the particular dynamic of the Mexican family structure is based

on the rigid and authoritarian behavior of the fathers. He states that this model is

also applicable to Mexicans living in the United States.

Tharp, et al. (1968) describe an Hispanic family as dominated by the male.

He states: "Masculine dominance is central to the family; the wife is expected to

respect, obey, and serve her husband without question. One would expect to find

strict authority values governing the parents relationship" (p. 405). It is believed that in

Mexican- American Spanish - speaking families, parental strictness is greater than

among English speaking Mexican American families. A popular belief about Mexican

family life, is that Mexican-American parents are prone to abuse their children and

that severe beating is an accepted means of controlling child misbehavior

(Buriel et al, 1979)

25

Reviewing American and Hispanic writers description of Latino people, Cromwell

and Ruiz (1979) found that the stereotype of Mexican male dominance is firmly

believed. Quoting the well known Oscar Lewis book (1949), he says, "the husband is

viewed as an authoritarian, patriarchal figure 'who is head and master of the

household" (p. 357). Quoting Stanton (1972) he notes that "Three of the most obvious

features retained by Mexican-American families are closely allied. They are masculine

superiority, male dominance, and emphasis on submission and obedience to the

father" (Cromwell and Ruiz, 1979, p. 357).

Grebled, et al., (1973) affirm that "A major feature of traditional Hispanic culture

is machismo, and the adult male may devote considerable effort to maintain and prove

his manliness. Male supremacy and sexual prowess must be demonstrated" (in

Kantorowisky and Chavez, 1985, p. 318).

According to Lara-Cantu and Navarro-Arias (1986), many writings about

Mexicans declare that "the masculine-feminine polarity usually takes dramatic

dimensions" (p. 143). Elmendorf (1977) goes further by saying that machismo is a

syndrome. "Mexico among the Latin American countries, is also said to be the most

affected by the machismo syndrome" (in Lara-Cantu and Navarro-Arias, 1986, p.

143).

Mirande (1988), reviewing different authors (se also Carol, 1988; Hayden,

1966; and Madson, 1977), believes that the authoritarian Chicano family structure

produces a very high level of violence, male dominance, strict discipline.

26

The submissive and quiet behavior of the woman leads the family towards a

firm control by the father.

This viewpoint of male dominance in Hispanic societies presupposes that the

father will abuse his children, and that he is the abusive parent in violent Hispanic

families. The following studies seem to affirm this concept. In the Penaloza article

(1968), it is alleged that the Mexican father-son relationship is distant and severe but

respectful. In examining stereotypes of Hispanic people,

It is believed that "child-rearing practices which include indulgent affection and harsh

punishment are the basic components of family relationships" ( in Cromwell and Ruiz,

1979, p. 357). In the Hawkes and Taylor study (1975), it was stated that in Mexican

American families, the husband is the authority in the family, and he is responsible for

disciplining the children. These authors also stated that in Mexican and Mexican

American families, males assume the dominant role in the family.

Lindhol and Willey (1986) analyzed 4,132 cases of child abuse contradicting the

previous studies. He found that reported cases of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's

Department "among Anglos and Hispanics, males were much more likely to abuse

children than were females" (p. 115). According to Mirande (1984), Hispanic fathers

not only abuse their children more frequently, but they inflict more severe punishment

than do Hispanic mother.

Although the majority of studies on Hispanic people stresses the stereotyped

idea of machismo and strictness of the Hispanic parents, the findings of

27

Cronwell and Ruiz (1982) lead them to conclude that "The patriarchal

Hispanic family structure characterized by macho dominance in marital

decision-makig is a myth which prevails in social science literature" (Ibarra,

1982: 171).

Evidence Indicating which Parent is more Abusive among Mexican Parents

Studies in Mexico suggest that the mother is the more abusive parent in Mexican

families. In a study of a sample from the city of Puebla, looking at psychological abuse

Bleal et al. (1992), found that the mother appeared as the perpetrator in 44.7% (n=17) of

the cases, and the father in 26.3% (n=10) of the cases.

In 1983 study based on 26 cases in the Mexico city Children's Hospital (Carrillo

and Osorio, 1983), the most frequent perpetrators of child abuse were found to be

mothers (47%) followed by fathers (27%), stepmothers (15%), uncles (10%) and

grandfathers (5%).

In Mexico City, from 1983 to 1985, more mothers than fathers were suspected of

abusing their children (Preman reports, 1986). In 1983, out of a total of 703 suspects of

abuse 343 were mothers (49.3%), and 163 (23.5%) were fathers. In 1984, out of 696

suspects, 325 (46.7%) were mothers, 168 (24.2%) were fathers. In 1985, out of 704

suspects, 367 (52.1 %), were mothers and 132 (18.7%) were fathers. In 1986, out of a

total of 1,271 suspects, 627 (49%) were mothers, and 299 (24%) were fathers.

In Bronstein's study (1984) of 78 Mexican parent-dyad's, it was found than there

was no difference in punitive and authoritarian behavior between fathers

28

and mothers. Bronstein also found that mothers tended to treat girls and boys

equally, whereas fathers treated girls in a distinctly different manner to their

sons. He states that "a number of researchers (Hawkes and Taylor, 1975;

Mirande, 1979) are beginn!ng to question the traditional image of the

dominant, authoritarian Mexican father (p.1 001).

In summarizing the American and Mexican literature, we can affirm that both

men and women are violent. Men seem to be more aggressive than women. If males

are violent as well as females, and if men are more often represented in all cases of

aggressiveness, why do mothers appear to be the more abusive parent?

Thus, the evidence on father/mother differences in abusing children is

conflicting, and needs to be further studied. If fathers appear less abusive than

mothers is it due to the fact that the father's role is clearly undervalued? (Martin,

1983). Or as Fowler and Stockforf stress in their review of domestic violence in

England, "Fathers who mistreat their offspring are not studied" (in Martin (1986:3).

Bradley, et al. (1991), affirms that although the majority of child abuse studies target

only mothers, generalization of the results is weakened by the neglect of male

abusers.

Literature Related to Specific Hypotheses or Control Variables

This study is based on the assumption that the gender of the parent is an

important variable in predicting physical child abuse among Mexican parents. But

there are several other variables which might be related to gender

29

differences in child abuse. These variables could have much weight in determining

which parent is more abusive to their children. These variables to be considered

include family size, employment status of parents, educational level of the parents, the

age of the child (adolescent), and alcohol and drug abuse.

The Gender of the Parents

Although much research has accumulated on the origins of gender differences,

much is still uncertain on the subject. Differences in learning abilities, self-esteem,

sociability, achievement orientation, auditory versus visual responsivity are

considered to be myths by Maccoby and Jacklin (1974). On the other hand they

found clear evidence for biological sex-related differences in verbal skills,

aggression, quantitative and spatial visualization. For other differences they affirm

that the current information is insufficient to validate those differences.

The fact that males and females are different is a undeniable, but why are the

differences? Most scholars agree that "genetic factors, 'shaping' of boylike and

girl-like behavior by parents and other socializing agents, and the child's

spontaneous learning behavior" (Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974, p. 360) affect the

development of sex differences.

Regarding parent-child socialization they found similarities on how parents rear

boys and girls. According to their conclusion, both sexes are encouraged to be

independent, both are treated with equal affection, and both are equally

30

discouraged from dependent conduct. However, there are also observable

differences. Parents punish boys more than girls, and boys receive more criticisms

from their caretakers (Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974).

In their review of sex differences, Noller and Callan (1991) found that the ways

in which parents communicate with their children is quite different. Girls are found to

communicate more with parents than boys, but both sons and daughters talk more

with their mothers than with their fathers, and perceive their mother's communication

as more positive. Fathers are perceived by adolescents as being more judgmental

and less interested in discussing feelings. Fathers, more than mothers also

perceived as trying to impose their authority on the adolescents. On the other hand,

mothers are perceived by adolescents as better in negotiating agreements with them

and more interested in the in day-today problems.

In regard to physical punishment, there are fairly clear differences in the amount

of punishment received by boys. Listing 12 studies on physical punishment, Maccoby

and Jacklin, found that "with few exceptions boys receive more physical punishment

than girls do" (1974, p. 240). Noller and Callan (1991, p. 44), found that adolescents

report having more conflicts with mothers than fathers. However, in a follow-up study,

they found that children aged 12 to 17, report their "mothers initiating more

discussions with them and recognizing and accepting their opinion more than their

fathers." In a sample of 163 college aged females Scanzoni (1991), found that

mothers and fathers differ in their

31

restrictiveness toward adolescents. Mothers tend to restrict daughters more than sons while

fathers tend to be more restrictive with boys than girls. These findings correspond with the

Bronstein (1984) literature review of sex differences in the child rearing process. He found that

in children's perception of parental roles, fathers were reported as being more restrictive and

punitive, especially to sons, while mothers were perceived as being more nurturant and using

more psychological, rather than physical, methods of control (especially with daughters).

All of this evidence suggest that in some areas fathers and mothers differ in the

way they interact with their children. In some ways they differ a great deal, while in

other ways they do not (see Bentley and Fox, 1991; Block, 1973; Etaugh, Collins and

Gerson, 1974; Rebelky and Hanks, 1971). It is not the purpose of this study to

address the ongoing debate by philosophers and social scientists about the relative

importance of biological versus experiential influences in determining sex

differences. The focus of this dissertation is not the etiology of sex role differences. I

will merely assume that human development is the result of the "dynamic interaction

between an individual's biological makeup and experiences with the environment"

(Pearsons, 1980:xiii). Since fathers and mothers differ in certain ways in parent - child

interaction, I can expect gender differences regarding parental maltreatment of

adolescents.

32

Unemployment and Fathers' Aggression

There is research linking unemployment and low job satisfaction with child abuse.

Unemployment has been found to be one of the most powerful predictors of

maltreatment. In Gil's study (1970), nearly half (48)% of the fathers in 13,000 cases of

abuse had experienced unemployment during the year preceding the abuse. Light's

study shows that the employment status of the parents is the single factor that most

frequently differentiates abusive from non-abusive families (cited in Belsky, 1980).

Sariola and Utela (1992), report that unemployment in a family increases the likelihood

of mild to severe abuse by fathers.

Caliso and Milner (1992) also found that unemployed or retired parents are more

violent toward their children than working fathers. Enumerating causes of child abuse,

Spineta and Riggles (1972) include, social isolation, economic stress, high mobility

and unemployment as the risk factor of maltreatment. Belsky (1980, p. 327) stated that

"The most direct evidence linking the world of work with maltreatment comes from

research on unemployment."

In a Korean study, Kim and Ko (1990) report that unemployed fathers abuse

more than employed fathers. Looking at psychosocial characteristics of abusers,

Roberts (1987), found unemployment and a blue collar job to be re-

lated to abuse by fathers.

Scholars agree that joblessness affects men more than women. Hartnett

and BradIey J1994J, citin..9 studies by Sinfield (1981), and Warr (1983), affirm

that unemployment affects the physical and mental health of men more than

women. According to the research, the effects of unemployment upon the

33

physical and mental health of men is due to the fact that work is so important

to men's self-esteem. Skevington confirms that work is important in

maintaining men's psychological well-being. According to Belsky (1980),

joblessness is a frustrating experience for men due to financial problems, and

because it contributes to their feelings of being powerless without a job. Men

feel themselves dethroned as the breadwinner when they are unemployed.

The difference in the way joblessness affects men and women may be the

result of woman's dual role. For men, losing a job means not only losing economic

benefits, but also as Hartnett and Bradley (1994) states, "unemployment means

losing the latent benefits of employment status, confirmation of identity, giving

status, independence and purpose, relief from feelings of isolation" (p. 225).

If Hispanic parents score higher than those of other groups in child abuse, it is

due to the fact that Hispanics people are chronically faced with the problem of

unemployment and lesser paying jobs. Most Hispanics (generally Mexicans) that

immigrated to the United States before 1970, legally or not, are uneducated and poor,

and lacking skills needed to get the higher paying jobs. Thus they are engaged in lower

paying jobs. Thus we conclude as Straus and Smith (1992), pointed out that Hispanic

families in which the husband had a lowincome, low-status occupations or were

unemployed had considerably higher rates of child abuse and spouse abuse.

34

Employment Status of the Mothers

Research evidence on employment status of mothers and child abuse is also

contradictory. Gelles and Hargreaves (1992) cite a number of studies (Conger, 1978;

Delli 1978; Fontana, 1973; Galston, 1965; James, 1975; Justice and Duncan, 1975;

Mahmood, 1978; Quadri,1978), which suggest that the physical abuse of children is

greater among working mothers. In a study of Korean parents, Kim and Ko (1990)

report that abusive behavior was more serious and frequent in families where

mothers were employed and fathers were unemployed.

However, the same authors cited in the above studies, who suggest that

working mothers have a high risk of abusing their children, also report research that

contradicts this idea, (see also, Chapa, 1978; Korbin, 1978; Oakland & Kane, 1973;

Whiting, 1972), suggesting that the working status of mothers is not related to child

abuse.

The employment status of both parents is related to child abuse if two conditions

are present: (a) if the mother is working full-time, and (b) she is married to an

unemployed husband. These conditions greatly increase the likelihood that she will

strike her children (Gelles and Hargreaves 1992).

Age of Child

Another difference between fathers and mothers, regarding parental physical

child abuse, is the age of their children. Martin (1978), found that "men and women

are equally likely to abuse infants, but three out of four adolescents were

35

mistreated by their fathers" (p. 294). Gelles and Hargreaves (1992) found

two variables related to child abuse: the part-time employment status of the

mother, and the age of the child. They found that when the mother is

working part-time, the likelihood of abusing pre-school children increases. If

the mother is working full time and has young, school-aged children the

likelihood that the mother will abuse them also increases. In a Mexican

study, the risk of abuse reaches its peak between one to three years

(Castillo and Osorio, 1983).

Much attention has been directed to the abuse of children, but relatively little

attention has been paid to abuse of adolescents. The American Humane Association

report that 25% of official reports of child abuse deal with adolescents (Farber and

Joseph, 1985).

In the First National Survey of Family Violence (1975) the most frequently

reported age of abused children were 3 to 5 and 15 to 17 (Wolfner and Gelles, 1993).

However, in Faber and Joseph study (1985) the more abusive parent figure of

adolescent appears to be the mother.

The Gender of the Children

According to some studies boys are more likely to be physically abused by a

parent than girls. Wauchope and Straus (1992), citing the American Humane

Association report of 1986, states that boys are at higher risk of physical abuse than

girls. As was stated above, Noller and Callan (1991) and Maccoby and Jacklin found

that boys more than girls are the target of abuse. The Office of Human Development

Services, in 1981, reported that younger more than older

36

boys are the target of physical abuse (Wauchope and Straus, 1992). Although

the evidence shows that boys more than girls are at a higher risk, some

authors affirm that the differences are often small (Gil, 1970). A 1985 Mexican

report showed no significant gender differences in the maltreatment of

children (49% for boys, 50.9% for girls) (Preman, 1985).

Both the First (1975) and the Second (1985) national Survey of Family Violence,

revealed that males were the victims of abuse more often than females. Studies by

Wolfner and Gelles (1992) and Lindholm and Willey (1986) also reveals that young

males have a higher rates than girls in overall and physical abuse. Thus boys

received much more abuse than girls. However, taking gender of the child and

ethnicity, into account, they found that female Anglos (55.1 %) and female Hispanics

(60.6%) received more abuse than male Anglos (44.9%) and males Hispanics

(39.4%).

Severe Abuse by Fathers

Because males are more violent than females in all types of violence, we would

expect fathers to inflict more severe abuse on their children than mothers. As we saw

in the literature review, the evidence suggests that fathers do in fact, inflict more

severe punishment upon their children. "Fathers committed severe violent acts more

often than mothers." In studies where single mothers and single fathers were

compared, "fathers used more severe violence than mothers" (Gelles, 1989; Sariola

and Uutela, 1992). In a sample of 185 children aged 7

37

to 13, O'Keefe (1994), found that fathers scored higher in frequency and sever-

ity of abuse toward their children than mothers.

Alcohol and Drugs Use

Another condition conducive to child abuse is use of alcohol and drugs by parents.

Although the findings are contradictory, the evidence appears to show that alcohol is

associated with child maltreatment (Kaufman and Straus, 1992). In studying the

father's aggressiveness towards his children, it was found that personality disorders

and alcoholism contribute to higher rates of physical child abuse (Andrews, 1994).

Hasselt (1992), citing Kandel (1973) and Newcomb et al. (1983), states that one

factor consistently related to child abuse is parental alcoholism and drug use. Nord

and Blow (1992), concluded that abuse was associated with alcohol-dependent

parents. Steinmetz (1982) states that studies conducted by Gil (1970), Wertham

(1972), and Young (1964), found a relationship between the use of alcohol and child

maltreatment. A Wolfner and Gelles (1993) study revealed that drug users reported

20% more incidents of minor violence and 46% more of severe violence than

abstainers. In a study of abusers that were prosecuted, Roberts (1987) found that

batterers were likely to be excessive drinkers and/or drug users. An overwhelming

number of physical abusers have a history of alcohol-related problems.

Educational Level Of Parents

Educational level of parents is associated with abuse, due largely to unrealistic

expectations that parents have and because "inadequate educational

38

resources undermine the functioning of parents, particularly mothers"

(Garbarino, 1976: 180). Many uneducated parents expect behavior from

children that they themselves cannot produce. Thus these parents get furious

when a child seems fails to meet their expectations. Steinmetz (1980) found

that the level of education among males has a strong negative correlation

with domestic violence (spouse and child abuse), and that the wife's level of

education showed similar a relationship with spouse abuse, but not with

mother-child abuse. Connelly and Straus' (1992) and Kadushin and Martin

(1981) studies, both support the view that children from poorly educated

parents are at risk to be maltreated.

Other studies reveal that parents with college education were the least abusive.

But, those parents who completed less than high school imparted the highest rate of

severe abuse (Wolfner and Gelles, 1993). Straus et al also found a negative

correlation between education and violence (Steinmetz, 1980). In comparing an

American sample with a Swedish sample, Gelles and Edfeldt (1986) found a

curvilinear relationship between violence and education in the United States. Parents

with the highest and lowest level of education were the least likely to abuse their

children. But in Sweden, education was not related to abuse. This finding is consistent

with Wolfner and Gelles' (1993) findings that the least educated fathers and mothers

reported the lowest rate of violence against children.

With regard to child abuse and parental education in Mexico, aggressive

behavior by parents are related to low education. Forty two percent (42.7%) of

39

the battering parents have only completed the first grade of elementary school

(Preman, 1985).

Family Size and Abuse

Another factor related to child abuse is family size. Studies reveal that abuse

occurs with disproportionate frequency in large families (Belsky, 1980). Bolton (1983)

states that the number of children at home is a factor contributing to the risk of

maltreatment. He found that the risk of abuse increases with the size of the family.

Parents of two children have a rate of abuse 50% higher than parents who have one

child to care for. Bolton points out that the highest rate of child abuse occurs in

families with five children or more. Wolfner and Gelles (1993) found a curvilinear

relationship between abuse and the number of children at home, with a peak at four

and five children at home. Belsky (1939), Bolton (1983), Connelly and Straus (1992),

and Wolfner and Gelles all agree that a larger number of children at home adds to the

risk of child maltreatment. Other studies also add support to the conclusion that

children from large families are at greater risk of being beaten by a family member

(see Kadushin and Martin, 1981; Kim and Ko, 1990).

This chapter has attempted to focus on the evidence for gender differnces in the

literature on the etiology of child abuse. In doing so, I have noted how gender

differences in child abuse might be related to such factors as poverty, unemployment,

isolation, drug abuse and alcohol use, educational level, and family ize.

40

Hypotheses

With this in mind, the following list of hypotheses are presented for testing:

1. Mothers and fathers will differ significantly on general abusiveness as

measured by the CTS.

2. Mothers more than fathers will display verbal aggression toward their

children.

3. Fathers, more than mothers, will display more severe and very severe

abuse toward their children.

4. Mothers, more than fathers, will use minor forms of abuse toward their

child.

5. The number of children at home will be positively related to parental

abuse. The relationship will be stronger among mothers than fathers.

6. Unemployed fathers more than employed fathers will be abusive of their

children.

7. The employed mothers will be more abusive than unemployed mothers.

8. The educational level of the parents will be inversely related to physical

child abuse. The correlation will be stronger among mothers.

9.Fathers are likely to be more abusive toward sons than daughters. 10.

Mothers are likely to be more abusive toward daughters than sons.

41

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY FOR EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CHILD ABUSE

Purpose and Method of Study

The major purpose of this study, as it was stated in the introduction, was to

provide an empirical study of gender differences between fathers and mothers

regarding child abuse among Mexican children.

The basic methodology is based on the Gelles and Straus literature about family

violence, the theoretical concept of sex differences by Maccoby and Jacklin, and on

data collected by a demographic questionnaire and The Conflict Tactic scale which

measures several areas of domestic violence.

Sample and Data

To gather the desired data on physical child abuse a sample of 832 children

enrolled in ninth grade, who were attending public schools in the city of Monterrey,

Mexico, were surveyed. These students were randomly selected from among the

15,215 students who attend public school in the Monterrey district.

A written letter was sent to the director of secondary education in the state of

Nuevo Leon, requesting permission to do the survey. At the same time, the names and

addresses of all the high schools with grades 7 to 9 were requested,

42

with the intent to survey some from poor communities, some from the middle class

communities, and some from the upper class communities.

The public education office chose from the 105 public schools, 20 schools from the

middle and low socioeconomic levels. There were no public schools in an upper level

community. After that, three schools of each socioeconomic class were randomly selected.

Some of these schools have two to four ninth grade classrooms. We chose randomly one

or two of these classrooms.

All students in the classes randomly selected received a package of questionnaires to

be filled out during class time within the classroom. The questionnaires contained written

instructions on how to fill them out. Nevertheless, they were verbally instructed by the

author and an assistant professor as to how to complete the questionnaire. Issues like

anonymity, time expected, and confidentiality were discussed with all the students before

they completed questionnaire.

Questionnaire and Instrument

Two instruments were used to collect the desired data for this study: the Conflict

Tactics Scales (CTS), which includes 20 items, and a demographic questionnaire which

includes 19 items. The Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) ( Straus 1979) measures family

violence. It is formed by three different subscales: reasoning, verbal aggression and

physical violence. The CTS has been used in many studies of intrafamily violence between

spouses, by parents towards their children (Connelly & Straus 1992), and violence

between siblings. The first version (form A) of the CTS was administered in questionnaire

format to

43

students when they were seniors in high school during 1973, 1974 by Straus (Gelles

& Straus, 1992).

The CTS is a self report questionnaire, however, it has been used in different

formats with little differences in the results. It has been used in "face -to-face

interviews (Kennedy and Dutton, 1989; Smith 1986, 1987; Gelles and Steinmetz,

1980); telephone interviews (Gelles and Straus; Kennedy and Dutton, 1989;

Smith, 1986, 1987, 1988); and a self-administered questionnaire (Dutton, 1988;

O'Leary and Murphy, 1990; O'Leary and Vivian, 1990; Margolin, 1988; Straus,

1974,1978)." (Straus, 1993:147).

This instrument has been modified since 1971 and used extensively in numerous

studies of domestic violence (Wolfner & Gelles, 1993). The CTS has become the

most widely used questionnaire for studies on spouse abuse, (Straus, 1990). By

1989, the CTS questionnaire had been used in more than two hundred papers. It

has been used for assessment in clinical work also (Straus, 1992).

The CTS was used in the 1975-1976 National Family Violence Survey by

Straus, Gelles and Steinmetz, and in the Second National Family Violence Survey

during 1985 (Straus & Gelles, 1992; Sariola & Uutela, 1992, and Connelly & Strauss,

1992). Gelles and Edfeldt, using CTS, conducted another research in Sweden in

1980 (Sariola & Uutela, 1992).

There are three different English versions of the Conflict Tactic Scale: form A,

N, and R. Straus (1992) pointed out that these versions are fundamentally

44

the same. They differ in the number of items for each scale and the response

categories given to the subjects.

The CTS, is intended to measure two types of maltreatment: Verbal Aggression, and

Physical Aggression. It is divided in seven scales. The list begins with items from the

Reasoning Scale (A, S, C), followed by items from the Verbal Aggression Scale (0, E, F, H,

I, J) follow with items from the Physical Aggression Scale. The items from physical scale

are divided into two indexes: The Minor Violence Index (K, L, M), Very Severe Violence

Index (N, P, Q, R, and S). The Severe Violence Index ad items a to the former scale.

Overall Violence Index include all nine items of physical violence regardless of whether it

was severe or minor. The Severity Weighted Scale takes into account not only the

frequency, but also the potential injury,

The scales start with items with low in coersiveness and follow with more

coersiveness and end With more aggressive items. The list begins with items from the

Reasoning Scale, such as "Discussed an issue calmly," followed with items from the Verbal

Aggression Scale, such as "Swore at, or insulted him/her," and ends with items from the

Physical Scale, that contain items like "spanked, kicked or bit him/her." The items from the

Physical Scale are divided into two indexes: The Minor Violence Index and the Severe

Violence Index.

The response categories for each item are: 0= never; 1 = once; 2= twice; 3= 3-5 times; 4=

6-10 times, and 5= 11-20 or more times. The following values should be recoded as: 3= 4; 4=

8; 5= 15. Values 0, 1 and 2 do not need to be re-

coded (Straus, 1990).

45

To compute any of the CTS scales the items must be recoded as follow:

Reasoning: ItemA + ItemS + ItemC. Verbal Aggression: ItemD + ItemE + ltemF +

ItemH + Iteml + ItemJ. Very Severe: ItemN + ItemP + ItemQ + ItemR + ItemS. The

Severe Scale differ of Very Severe Scale, because Severe scale contain item O.

In the items of Severity Weighted Scale, must be weighted as: ItemN= 2,

ItemO= 3; ItemP and ItemQ= 5; ItemR=6 and S=8. Must be computed also as:

K+M+N (N*2)+(O*3)+(P*5)+(Q*5)+(R*6)+(S*8). Minor Violence: ItemK + ItemL +

ItemM. The Overall Violence Index, includes all nine items containing physical

violence; Items K through S are included in form R. (Straus, 1990, pp. 79).

In regard to internal consistency, the reliability and validity of the CTS has been

tested and continues to be assessed over the 20-year history of this instrument

(Wolfner & Gelles 1993). The internal consistency reliability of the instrument has

been tested by two different techniques. The form A was computed to determine the

correlation of the items making up the Conflict Tactic Scales with the total score. The

Alpha coefficient of reliability was used in form N. The reliability of coefficient is high

for the Verbal Aggression and Violence Scales, and low for the Reasoning Scale

(Straus, 1979).

The work of Sulcroft and Straus in 1975 confirms a concurrent validity for CTS.

Other studies confirm construct validity (Straus, 1979). The view point of Wolfner

and Gelles (1993) is: "there is evidence of adequate internal consistency reliability,

concurrent validity and construct validity."

46

There are two Spanish translations, forms Nand R. Form N was used in the First

National Family Violence Survey and was prepared by Response Analysis

Corporation. Form R, prepared by Etiony Aldorino, was used by Glenda Kaufman

Kantor in the National Alcohol and Family Survey in 1992 (Straus, 1993).

For the Spanish version, to test concurrent validity, a Pearson correlation coefficient

was calculated between the score on the CTS and clinician's evaluation of the

subject's abusive behavior. The outcome was that the clinician's evaluation did not

concur with the subject's score on the questionnaire (r= .21, R=.12), (Olona, 1993). To

test construct validity of the form R, a t-test was utilized. The study showed that there

was a significant difference between the mean score of CTS for the group of battered

and the group of the non-batterers. The batterers group scoring significantly higher

than the non-batterer's group (t=4.00, P _ < .001) (Olona, 1993). Although concurrent

validity would be good to have, the reported construct validity, taken together with the

other research reported using the CTS, points to the CTS as the instrument of choice

for this study. Regarding Reliability, the Alpha coefficient for the whole group was

found to be at .8380 and the standard item Alpha was .8484. The Alpha coefficient for

the batterers group was .8292 and the standard item alpha was .8541, indicating ex-

tremely high reliability for the batterers as well as for the whole group for this

instrument (OI6na, 1993).

47 The demographic section of the questionnaire included 19 items and re-

quested information regarding education, employment status, gender of the par-

ticipant, age, family size, economic and marital status.

Operationalization of Key Variables

Three primary concepts were utilized in this study. The definition of the concepts of

physical abuse, reasoning and verbal aggression as understood in this study are utlined

below along with how each was measured.

1. General abusiveness: Based on the sum of all responses to the CTS.

2. Reasoning: Based on the sum of responses to CTS items a, b, c.

3. Verbal aggression: Based on the sum of responses to CTS items d, e, f, h, i and

j.

4. Overall Violence: Based on the sum of responses to CTS items, k through s.

5. Minor violence: Based on the sum of responses to CTS items k, I, m.

6. Severe violence: Based on the sum of responses to CTS items n, 0, p, q, r, s.

7. Very Severe: Based on the sum of responses to CTS items n, p, q, r, s.

8. Severity Weighted Scale: The Severity Weighted Scale was computed as:

K+M+N (N*2)+(O*3)+(P*5)+(Q*5)+(R*6)+(S*8)

9. Employment status: Based upon responses to questionnaire items 6, 7, 8, 9.

10. Number of children: Based upon responses to questionnaire item 10.

48

11. Education level: Based upon responses to questionnaire item 17.

12. Gender of child: Based upon responses to questionnaire item 2.

13. Economic status: Based upon responses to questionnaire items 11, 12, 13, 14.

Statistical Analysis

A t-test will be used to test hypotheses 1 to 4, 6 and 7. A Pearson correlation will be

used to assess differences between mothers and fathers, the number of children at home

and the educational level of the parents, on hypotheses 5 and 8. A t-test will be used to

assess differences between the abuse received by sons and daughters from the parents,

as expressed in hypotheses 9 and 10.

A note for reading the tables. Statistical significance for p<O.OS is set up at p<O.007

to reduce errors due to multiple testing, according to the t-test (See Bonferroni adjustment

SPSS Manual, 1993). Regarding missing values: When a respondent did not answer a

specific item, that variable was not counted for this specific case. Referring to missing

values, the SPSS manual says "cases of missing values either on the grouping variables or

the test variables are excluded from the analysis of that variable (1993, p. 263). When

specific hypotheses are given and the direction of the relationship between variables is

predicted, a one-tailed test will be used.

49

Hypotheses

In the light of the literature reviewed, the following general hypotheses have

been presented for testing.

1. Mothers and fathers will differ significantly on general abusiveness as

measured by the CTS.

2. Mothers more than fathers will display verbal aggression toward their

children.

3. Fathers, more than mothers, will display more severe and very severe

abuse toward their children.

4. Mothers, more than fathers, will use minor forms of abuse toward their

child.

5. The number of children at home will be positively related to parental

abuse. The relationship will be stronger among mothers than fathers.

6. Unemployed fathers more than employed fathers will be abusive of their

children.

7. The employed mothers will be more abusive than unemployed mothers.

8. The educational level of the parents will be inversely related to physical

child abuse. The correlation will be stronger among mothers.

9.Fathers are likely to be more abusive toward sons than daughters. 10.

Mothers are likely to be more abusive toward daughters than sons.

51

Parental Profile

The students' parents ranged in age as follows: 7 (0.8%) of the fathers were younger

than 30 years of age; 87 (10.5%) were 31 to 35; 231 (27.8%) were 36 to 40; 216 (26.0%)

were 41 to 45; 135 (16.2%) were 46 to 50; 71 (8.5%) were 51 to 55; 19 (2.3%) were 56 to

60; and 32 (3.9%) were over 60 years age. The item was not answered in 53 (6.4%) of the

cases. The students' mothers ranged as follows: 29 (3.5%) of the mothers were younger

than 30 years of age; 188 (22.6%) were 31 to 35; 288 ( 34.6%) were 36 to 40; 182 (21.9%)

were 41 to 45; 78 (9.4%) were 46 to 50; 35 (4.2%) were 51 to 55: 9 (1.1 %) were 56 to 60;

and 1 (0.1 %) were over 60 years age. The item was not answered in 22 (2.6%) of the

cases.

Forty eight percent (48%) of the fathers and 57% of the mothers had a junior-high

education or less, 11 % of the fathers had graduated from high school and 18% had a

college education. Ten percent of the mothers had graduated from high school and 11 %

had obtained a college degree education (See Table 1 for a breakdown of the parents'

educational background). Eighty one percent of the parents were currently married, and

88% of the fathers and 37% of the mothers were employed (See Table 2 for a breakdown

of their occupations). Sixty percent owned a car which they drove to work, and 32% took

the bus to work. Eighty five percent of the parents owned their own home, of which

58% had 2 or 3 bedrooms and 37% had four or more bedrooms. Only 21 % of the

fathers and 3% of the mothers have been reported using alcohol or drugs.

53

Inferential Statistical Analysis on the Gender of the Parent and Child

Abuse

Level of Violence

The first variable we will analyze is the gender of the parent with regard to the

level of violence inflicted on the child. We have already noted from the literature

reviewed that mothers are reported as sometimes being more abusive as sometimes

less abusive than fathers. Now we need to see if the parents surveyed differ in the

level of violence committed against their children.

Since gender of parents is thought to be related to child abuse, Hypothesis 1: Mothers

and fathers will differ in physical child abuse, is presented for testing. Presented in

Table 3 are the means, the standard error of mean, the t value, and the level of

probability between the six dimensions of child abuse

54

and gender of the parents. It can be noted that Table 3 presents information

which will be used for testing hypotheses two to four as well as hypothesis one.

Table 3 shows that mothers inflict more minor abuse (t= -4-46; p<.OOO), severe

abuse (t= -3.06; p<.001), very severe abuse (t= -2.62, p<.OOO), and severity

weighted abuse (t= -3.44, p<.001) on their children than do the fathers. Thus,

according to the children's perceptions as measured by the Conflict Tactic Scale

questionnaire, the overall violence committed by mothers is greater than that

committed by fathers (t= -4.25; p<.OOO).

Table 4 presents evidence on the relationship between parents gender and abuse,

controlling for gender of the child. Controlling by the gender of the child significantly

increases the specificity of our understanding of hypothesis 1. As can be seen in table

4, the tendency for mothers to be more abusive than fathers is intensified when the

target of abuse is a daughter. Taken together, controlling by gender of the child rather

dramatically alters the zero order findings with regard to all types of physical abuse. A

comparison of means show us that when the target of severity weighted violence is a

daughter, the findings reveal that the mother more than the father is intensified.

Hypothesis 2. Mothers more than fathers will display verbal aggression toward

their children. As can be seen in table 3 and 4, this hypothesis was not supported. The

results were in the opposite direction from what was predicted as children report their

fathers as being more verbally abusive than mothers (t= 2.70; p<.003). When

controlling by gender of the child, (see table 4) we find a approaching significant

difference between fathers' and mothers' verbal abuse of sons (t= 2.52; p< .006), than

the difference in their verbal abuse of their daughters (t= 1.41; ns). Parenthetically, it

can be noted that mothers are more apt than fathers to use reasoning in disciplining

their children (see table 3). As table 4 reveals, this is truth for both sons (t=3.78,;

p<.OOO) and daughters !t= 5.69; p<.OOO).

56

Hypothesis 3. Fathers more than mothers will display more severe and very

severe abuse toward their children. The results contradict this hypothesis. Table 3

reveals that in severe abuse, mothers score higher than fathers (t= -3.06: p<.001),

with very severe abuse, mothers also score higher than fathers (t= -2.62; p<.008), and

severity weighted abuse (t= -3.44, p<.001) on their children than do the fathers. Thus,

according to the children's perceptions as measured by the CTS questionnaire, the

overall violence committed by mothers is greater than committed by fathers (t= -4.25;

p<.OOO). In other words, the survey indicates that mothers show more severe abuse

toward their children than fathers. This is entirely explained by mothers showing a

greater incidence of severe abuse toward their daughters than do fathers (t= -4.24

p<.OOO) and t= -4.24; p<.OOO for severe and very severe abuse respectively).

Hypothesis 4. Mothers more than fathers will use more minor forms of abuse

toward their children. The results support this hypothesis (see table 3), as mothers

score higher in using minor forms of abuse toward children than fathers, (t= -4.46;

p<.OOO). Although controlling by gender of the child does not significantly alter this

finding, it can be noted that the amount of difference between mothers and fathers in

the expression of minor abuse is greater for daughters than for sons. As can be seen

in table 4, mothers express statistically significant more minor abuse to daughters

than fathers (t= -5.20; p<.OOO) but not to sons (t=-0.85, ns)

57

Hypothesis 5. The number of children at home will be positively related to

parental abuse. The relationship will be stronger among mothers than among fathers.

Table 5 reveals the existing correlations between the different types of abuse, and the

number of children at home. The correlations were small and non significant.

Controlling by gender of parent fails to alter the zero order findings.

Hypothesis 6. Unemployed fathers more than employed fathers will be abusive of their

children. Table 6 reveals the results comparing employment and unemployment fathers

for all types of abuse. We can see that unemployed fathers are noticeably higher than

the employed in every type of abuse.

58

Unemployed fathers score higher than employed fathers in verbal abuse (t=

5.8; p<.008), in severe abuse (t=8.4; p<.002) in very severe abuse (t= 9.92;

p<.001), in Severity Weighted abuse (t= 13.6; p<.OOO), Minor abuse (t=

17.1; p<.OOO) and Overall abuse (t= 15.8; p<.OOO).

The results however were quite different for the mother in regard to the rela-

tionship between mother's employment status and abuse. The proposed hypothesis is

not supported. Hypothesis 7. The employed mothers will be more abusive than

unemployed mothers. There is virtually no differences between employed and

unemployed mothers in the extent to which they abuse their children.

Hypothesis 8. The educational level of the parents will be inversely related to physical

child abuse. The correlation will be stronger among mothers. Table 8 shows the

relationship between educational level and all types of abuse for all parents and by

gender of parents. The findings do not reveal a statistically significant difference when

all parents are included in the analysis. There is, however, a low correlation between

parental education and the use of reasoning (.19; p<.001). This finding holds true

when analyzing the relationship between fathers (r=.23; p<.OOO) and mothers

(r=.18; p<.OOO) separately. In addition, there is a statistically significant, although

small, relationship between educational level and verbal abuse. When controlling by

gender of parents, we find that this relationship holds only among mothers. A similar

finding results for the relationships between educational level and severe abuse,

where again the small significant zero order relationship continue to hold only

60

among mothers. When controlled by the gender of the parent, no dramatic

additional findings emerge.

Hypothesis 9. Fathers are likely to be more abusive toward sons than

daughters. Hypothesis 10. Mothers are likely to be more abusive toward daughters

than sons. As we have seen in the previously reported findings, mothers are in

general more abusive than fathers to both sons and daughters. Here we examine

differences in the abuse of sons and daughters among fathers and among mothers.

Although the pattern found is for fathers to be more physically abusive of sons that

daughters, these differences are slight. Only in the case of very severe abuse do we

find that fathers are significantly more abusive of their sons than their daughters (t=

4.5; p<.016). It can be noted that fathers are significantly more verbally abusive of

theirs daughters than their sons.

61

The differing amount of abuse shown by mothers to sons and daughters is,

however, clear cut. In all regards, including all types of verbal and physical abuse,

mothers are more abusive of daughters than sons. The differences are especially

noticeable in regard to physical abuse, where every t- test is significant at the .002 level

or greater.

Although not a direct focus of study in this research, two research questions which

have been the focus of previous research on the causes of child abuse in the Anglo

population are addressed in this last section. These questions are, (1) does the use of

alcohol and drugs increase the likelihood that

Mexi.cap..QamDt.~IWiJ}JlJ?,It':C:frlttJi'Fe-nlllcN@fC~3na"t2ns there a difference

b~tween

Catholic and Evangelical Protestant Mexican parents in the likelihood of abusing their

children?

62

As can be seen in table 10, child abuse is consistently higher among fathers who

use alcohol and drugs than among those who do not. Although there is only one

statistically significant finding among mothers, there is a hint that child abuse might be

higher among mothers who do not use alcohol and drugs. Mothers who do not use

alcohol or drugs more than those who do, are more abusive in minor abuse (t= 5.3;

p<.01).

Table 11 reveals that Catholic mothers score significant higher than evangelical

mothers in verbal abuse, severe abuse, and very severe abuse. (t= 8.8; p<.002;

t=5.8; p<.008; t= 6.9; p<.004 respectively).

1.

13

4 CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION

The Gender of the Parents

The evidence generated from testing the first four hypotheses reveals that

Mexican mothers display more violence toward their children than Mexican fathers.

This section will interpret these findings in the light of previous research and the

particular cultural context in which this parental behavior takes place.

It is believed that Mexican culture approves of violence in child rearing practices.

Cromwell and Ruiz (1979), citing Padilla and Ruiz (1973), affirm that child-rearing

practices which include permissive affection and harsh punishment "are the basic

components of family relationships" (p. 357). Also, according to Buriel et al (1979),

there exists the "pervasive belief that Mexican-American parents frequently rely on

severe beatings as an acceptable means of controlling their children's behavior" (p.

217). And, since it is well known that Mexican males are macho, it might be assumed

that the fathers would be more physically abusive since that would fit their "macho"

image. Therefore. we would conclude that: (Hypothesis 1) Mothers and fathers will

differ in physical child abuse; and (Hypothesis 4) Mothers will use more minor forms of

violence toward their

children than fathers.

65

Why are mothers more abusive than fathers?

Hypothesis 1 was supported in that Mexican teens do report a difference in the

way their parents treat them. The findings from this study reveal that Mexican teens

experience their mothers as more abusive than their fathers. In almost all types of

abuse measured by the Conflict Tactic Scale, mothers were more abusive toward their

children than fathers. Our findings agree with studies made by other authors such as

Markovich (1977) Carrillo and Osorio (1983), Preman (1985, 1986), Villanueva

(1993), Bleal, et ai, (1992) and Loredo (1994). In all of these studies, Mexican mothers

were reported to be more abusive toward their children than were the fathers.

From these findings, it would be easy to conclude that females are more

violent than males. It has been established that mothers appear as the more abusive

parent in the family. However, it is a well-known in social science literature that in

overall aggressiveness males are more violent than females. Perhaps these two

conclusions are not such a complete contradiction as it would appear on the surface,

however. Let's look at some of the factors which may contribute to the higher scores

received by mothers.

In the Mexican milieu, mothers were reported as being more abusive than fathers.

These findings could result from the fact that mothers are the primary caretakers.

Maccoby (1980) affirms that in all cultures we can see a female dominance of the

child rearing activity, even in societies where couples practice an egalitarian role. In

societies where women are an integral part of the labor

66

force, most mothers are still the primary caretakers. In Wolfner and Gelles' (1993)

study, females were the primary perpetrators of abuse, but at the same time they

were found to be the primary caretaker and to spend much more time caring for their

children than do fathers. Bronstein (1984) studied 78 Mexican parent-child dyads

and, focusing on the mothers' and fathers' interaction with their school-aged

children, found that mothers spent more time with their children in caretaking

activities than did fathers. Therefore, it is possible that mothers may appear more

abusive to their children than fathers do, simply because the mother is the one who

is with them the most.

Another reason might be that Mexican fathers and mothers do not have equal

responsibility for the discipline of their children. In Mexico, the mother IS responsible

for disciplining children, since she, rather than the father, is responsible for the child's

overall behavior. If a child misbehaves, the mother tends to be the one who is blamed

by anyone or all of the following: her husband, her husband's family, her own family,

society, and, many times, herself. Because of these expectations, mothers are more

prone to punish their children. Thus, it is "not unusual for children to be beaten,

especially by a dissatisfied and bitter wife" (Penaloza, 1968, p. 695).

Another possible explanation for this could be the difference in the way

fathers and mothers respond to conflict within family relationships. While mothers

may use vrorence In deaflng With their children, fathers may withdraw in the face of

this same violence. Cummings and Davies (1994) citing numerous other

67

studies (Christensen & Shank, 1991; Floy & Markman, 1983; Levenson &

Gottman, 1985; Notorious et al. 1989), found that, although it is

controversial,

the bulk of evidence suggests that males and females differ in the way they par-

ticipate in marital conflict. When wives complain, husbands withdraw trying to avoid

marital conflict. This could be the way fathers handle parent-children disagreements

also.

With this in mind, my conclusion is that the gender difference in abuse, rather

than being an indication of a psychological propensity to violence, may merely be a

reflection of the fact that mothers spend much more time with their children than

fathers, and, due to cultural norms, are expected to do the majority of the disciplining

as well.

Why Are Mothers More Prone to Physical Abuse than Fathers?

Because males are considered more violent than females, and because,

generally, they are physically more powerful, they are capable of inflicting damage

that would produce fatal injuries, including death (Cazenave & Zahn,1990). Thus, the

third hypothesis predicted that fathers would be reported by children as inflicting

more violent punishment on them than mothers. This hypothesis however, was not

supported by the findings. Mothers scored significantly higher on all types of physical

abuse, including severe and very severe abuse where it was thought fathers certainly

would be more abusive than mothers. While our findings are in agreement with those

of Gil (1971), they are contrary to with

68

those of Sariola and Utela (1992) and Caliso and Milner (1992) who

found that fathers scored higher in severe violence than mothers.

This study's findings are also contrary to the conventional wisdom as well

as the findings of other researchers which indicate that Mexican society is char-

acterized by male dominance. In a review of studies by women researchers (Carol

1988, Madson 1977, and Hayden 1966) Mirande (1988:97) stated that "the

authoritarian Chicano family structure produces a very high level of violence, male

dominance, strict discipline, and submission to the male." In an article by Tharps et

al. (1968), Hispanic families are described as male dominated.

"Masculine dominance is central to the family .... One would expect to find strict

authority values governing parents' relationship" (p. 405). Reviewing Anglo and

Hispanic writers on Latino people, Cromwell and Ruiz (1979) found that the

stereotype of Mexican male dominance is firmly believed. Quoting Oscar Lewis he

says "the husband is viewed as an authoritarian, patriarchal figure who is head and

master of the household" (Cronwell and Ruiz, 1979, p. 357). Stanton says that "three

of the most obvious features retained by Mexican-American families are masculine

superiority, male dominance, and emphasis on submission and obedience to the

father" (in Cromwell and Ruiz, 1979, p. 357).

If male dominance in Mexican culture is considered an axiom, why do

mothers appear to be the more abusive parent, and why do they inflict more severe

abuse on their children than fathers do? As suggested earlier, this might be due to

the cultural influences that impose the role of primary caretaker and

69

disciplinarian on the rnothen- r'Huwever,lt Mi9htalso be that mothers abuse their

children as a way of displacing hostility toward their husbands. As Penaloza (1968)

suggests, because of the authoritarian role of the husband, and the mother's

inability to strike back, Mexican wives become "dissatisfied and bitter" and wind up

beating their children (695). Bermudez (in Silva 1975), assumes that the

"exaggeratedly submissive role of the wife to her husband creates an emotional

crisis resulting in mistreatment of the children" (p. 45).

It is also possible that mothers inflict more severe physical abuse than fathers

because they are more dissatisfied with their role as "housewives" In our study, a large

number of mothers, 505 out of 803 (60.7%), were reported by their children as being

full-time housewives.

A related explanation might be that Mexican wives experience less satis-

faction with marriage than Mexican husbands. Skevington (1986), citing Gove and

Tuddor (1973), reports that marriage is less satisfying for wives than for their

husbands. He then suggests that dissatisfaction with the marital relationship will

adversely effect the parent-child relationship. Another reason might be that the

"exaggeratedly submissive role" is a myth.

The reasons cited can be summarized as a violence cycle, considering that

violence begets violence. This cycle works in two ways. The first cycle begins as girls

who are abused by their mothers during childhood continue the cycle of abuse with

their own children when they become mothers. The second cycle occurs when

Mexican males abuse their spouses, who being unable to

Ii'\!"") 1 ~9 \.' \) ... 0 ..

70

fight back against their husbands, discharge their repressed anger against

their children. The fact that mother are more likely to be involved with their

children, this beginning of an understanding as to why mothers are

experienced by Mexican children as more abusive than fathers.

Why Do Unemployed Fathers Abuse their Children more than Employed

Fathers?

The employment status of the parents is one of the most common variables in

studies on child abuse. Since the Mexican population incorporates many of the most

common causes of child abuse, such as poverty and unemployment (Andrews 1994),

it was expected that within the Mexican family child abuse would be a serious

problem.

Our findings support hypothesis 6 which states that the employment status of

fathers will be related to the amount of child abuse. Our findings that the unemployed

fathers abuse their children more is consistent with a number of previously reported

findings (see, Gil, 1970; Andrews, 1992; Cazenave & Zhan, 1988; Straus & Gelles,

1992; Straus & Smith, 1992).

The question remains, however: "Why do unemployed fathers abuse their children

more? I suggest two major reasons. The first reason is that unemployed fathers

spend more time with their children. Since mothers are more likely to work outside of

the home if the father is unemployed, fathers might be taking on the responsibilities of

the primary caretaker and disciplinarian. Thus, just as we noted that the mothers

abuse more when she is primarily a

71

housewife. Because the father is with the children more and, therefore, disciplines

them more, he will have greater "hands on" contact with the children, and a

correspondingly greater opportunity and inclination to physically abuse them. The

proximity factor transcends gender considerations.

The second reason unemployed fathers abuse their offspring more may be

that for males their job is their identity. Therefore, the loss of a job means a loss of

identity and a primary source of self esteem. To be unemployed may lead to an

attitude of defeat, isolation and incompetence. Skevington (1986) affirms that a job is

important to maintaining man's psychological well being. Harthett & Bradley (1990),

report that men find it difficult to cope with unemployment. Lashing out at one's

children may reflect the frustration of not having a job.

This may be even more pronounced in a Mexican context where the culture

dictates that the father should be the breadwinner. His ability to supply his family's

material needs defines his worth, both to himself and society. In Mexican culture it is

a disgrace if the husband cannot earn a living. In such a context, a frustrated,

stressed and bitter father is at a high risk of becoming an abuser.

Why Do Employed Mothers Not Abuse More Than Unemployed Mothers?

It was predicted in hypothesis 7 that employed mothers would abuse their

children more than unemployed mothers. It was reasoned that mothers who worked

outside the home would experience increased stress generated by their

72

triple roles as worker, wife and mother. Hall, affirm that employed mothers

report conflicts arising from the competition for time between home and job

(in Zaslow & Pederson, 1981). Among Mexican dual-career couples, men

generally do not participate in home duties and child care. This imposes a

greater burden on the wife's shoulders. All of these factors were expected to

create an overly stressed mother who is more prone to abuse her children.

However, our sample found no difference between employed and unemployed

mothers with regard to child abuse. These findings are consistent with those of several

other studies. Starr et al. (1978) did not find any differences between working and

non-working mothers. Studies by Schellenbanch (1977) and Martin (1970), state that the

employment status of the mothers is not related to abuse. Neither did Straus and Smith

(1992) find any differences between working and non-working mothers in the First and

Second National Family Violence Survey.

The absence of any increase in abuse by employed mothers may be due to the

fact that the added stress of juggling a career, child-rearing responsibilities, and

housework are offset by the benefits derived from the job. A job provides mothers with a

way of escape from home pressures and an avenue for developing friendships. Thus, it

reduces feelings of loneliness and relieves some of the pressures of continual child

rearing. Also, having a job outside the home gives mothers less time to spend with their

children; which, in turn,

73

reduces their opportunity and thus their risk time for abuse (Straus and

Smith 1992).

Another reason might be that working mothers have a more egalitarian re-

lationship with their husbands. As a result, they do not feel oppressed or bitter. The

cycle of violence is thus broken because these mothers do not have a need to

discharge their frustration and bitterness on their children.

It is also possible that working mothers are more optimistic due to the sense

of competence the job gives them. Thus, they are less stressed and less frustrated.

It might be that all of these reasons contribute to the well-being of employed Mexican

mothers, and thus offset any stress and frustration generated from dual work and

household roles. The result is that employed mothers are neither more nor less

abusive toward their children than unemployed mothers.

Why Do Less Educated Parents Abuse More?

Hypothesis 8 predicted that the educational/evel of the parents would be

inversely related to the physical abuse of their children. Hypothesis 8 was supported

by the findings, which revealed that the better educated the parents, the less they

were physically abusive. This may be due to the fact that a great number of less

educated parents expect behavior from a child that the child is developmentally

incapable of doing. When the child does not meet the parent's expectation, the

parent becomes angry. Research carried out by Steele & Pollack (968); Galdstone

(1965) and Blumberg (1974), confirms that parents who

74

mistreat their children "are grossly ignorant of the sequence and timing

of development" (Belsky 1980).

Accordingly, it would be expected that less educated parents would score

higher on abuse than more educated parents because less educated parents have

unrealistic expectations of their children. When children cannot satisfy their parents'

expectations, the risk of abuse may increase.

Is There a Relationship Between Gender of the Parent and Gender of Child in

Regard to Abuse?

Hypotheses 9 and 10 address the question of how the gender of the parent is

related to the gender of the child in regards of abusive behavior. Hypothesis 9

predicted that mothers would abuse their daughters more than their sons.

Hypothesis 10 predicted that fathers would abuse their sons more than their

daughters. Hypothesis 9 is supported as daughters more than sons reported their

mothers as abusive.

Studies on abused children have yielded contradictory results with regard to

which gender is most frequently the target of abuse. Some authors have found that

boys were abused by parents more frequently than girls. Other studies have found

that girls are targeted more frequently than boys. Cummins and Davies (1994),

alluding to different studies -such as those of Block, Block & Gjerde, (1986); Cohn,

(1991); Emery, (1982); Nolen-Hoeksema,

(1987)-suggest that boys may be the target of parental abuse because boys'

problems draw more attention than girls' problems due to the fact that boys

75

engage in more belligerence and overt misconduct than girls. And, as

Maccoby

and Jacklin (1973) affirm, boys are more often involved in escalating and/or con-

trolling interactions with their parents.

The finding that mothers abuse daughters more than sons is consistent with studies

conducted by Garbarino and Gilligan in 1980, and Olsen and Holmes in 1986. In these

studies, the findings "suggest a heightened rate of physical abuse among adolescents,

particularly adolescents girls" (Wauchope and Straus, 1993: 134). However, this is at

odds with other studies (Maccobyand Jacklin, 1974; Straus, 1971; Straus, Gelles &

Steinmetz. 1980) which "conclude that parents use physical punishment more often on

boys than girls" (Wauchope and Straus, 1993). Maccoby & Jacklin (1974), citing a

number of studies, affirm that boys received more physical punishment than girls. Their

findings are consistent with studies by Minton et al, (1971), Newsons (1968), and

Baumrind (1979) where mothers were found to be more restrictive and more abusive

with sons than with daughters. Blocks (1972) reports that mothers find it more difficult

to punish their daughters than their sons.

Why do Mexican daughters receive more physical abuse from their mothers

than do Mexican sons? There are several explanation which could shed light on this

question. One explanation is the belief of Mexican families that the daughter must be

protected from any possible form of misconduct which

would tarnish her reputation. Mothers may therefore feel more responsible for their

daughters' actions and monitor them more closely than those of their sons,

76

who are allowed to come and go as they please. Thus, through increased

contact with their mothers and the mothers' close monitoring of their actions,

the daughters are disciplined far more often than are the sons. This results in

the daughter being much more prone to being abused by their mothers who

accept the role of maintaining an impeccable reputation for their daughters.

The over-controlling Mexican mother may be part of a continuing a vicious

cycle. As Noller and Callan (1991) state, "adolescents tend to react negatively to

parents who try to control them too much." Although, Noller and Callan do not specify

the gender of the parent, it may be that our sample of girls are objecting to their

mothers' excessive control and, thus, drawing more abuse.

Another possible reason why mothers abuse sons less than daughters is that

a mother may find it difficult to handle disagreements with her sons and as a result

tend to pass this responsibility on to her husband. This, in turn, would explain why

fathers tend to mistreat their sons more than do mothers. Boys are typically more

aggressive than girls, and are generally more physically powerful, a fact which might

intimidate the mother and inhibit from using physical force with her sons. Maccoby &

Jacklin (1974: 323) report that "parents permit or encourage aggression in boys more

than in girls, and that is one of the reasons boys are more aggressive." They also find

that "mothers of boys reported themselves as being more permissive than mothers of

girls when a child was aggressive toward its parents, although the two sexes received

approximately equal amounts of punishment for such behavior." All this suggest that

mothers may be

77

more tolerant of undesirable behavior from sons than from daughters.

Maccoby and Rothbart (1966), quoted in Maccoby and Jacklin (1974: 325),

state that "mothers were more willing to accept angry behavior toward

themselves from sons than from daughters."

Another explanation might be that developmentally the age of 14-16 is rocky

between mothers and daughters. This could be why mothers are more abusive

because this is the age of this sample. Especially in light of mother

over-controlling could even be a distortion in daughters reporting mother's abuse.

Another reason why Mexican fathers do not abuse daughters as much as

mothers may be that fathers think that girls are physically weaker. Or, it may be

because it is culturally prohibited to severely abuse daughters. This assumption

agrees with the conclusion of Maccoby and Jacklin (1974:326), who found that fathers

reacted more permissively toward aggressive behavior from their daughters than from

their sons. "Fathers appeared to be more tolerant of aggression from daughters and

mothers from sons." (347) Lambert et al, (1971), affirms "that fathers would accept

insolence" from daughters more readily than from sons." I would suggest that if

research finds Anglo fathers to be more tolerant of daughters than sons, a Mexican

cultural context would find Mexican fathers to be even more tolerant of daughters than

sons.

Mothers and fathers use almost the same amount of reasoning and verbal

aggression toward their sons as toward their daughters. However, for all

78

types of physical abuse, fathers are slightly more abusive than mothers

toward their sons. Comparing mothers' and fathers' abuse of daughters,

mothers score higher than fathers on all types of physical abuse. This

leads us to conclude that in Mexican families, abuse is gender oriented,

fathers abuse their sons more (although, statistically, it is not significant),

and mothers abuse their daughters more (which is statistically significant

with the exception of severe abuse).

Alcohol and Abuse

Our findings suggest a link between the parental use of alcohol and child

abuse. There is no previously reported literature directly related to this finding. The

bulk of the available literature does link alcohol to violence in general (Gelles and

Straus, 1988, Kaufman and Straus, 1992). However, in his study, Olona (1994),

found high rates of alcohol use among the Hispanic population, but he did not find

support for the relationship between alcohol and inter-family violence. Thus this

finding of a link between a parent's alcohol and drug use and child abuse is an

important one.

79

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

The pioneers in the study of child abuse attempted to explain the problem from

the point of view of individual characteristics. They saw individual psychopathology as

the primary underlying cause of child abuse. Later researchers focused on

socio-economic variables in attempting to understand the etiology of child abuse.

More recently, the ecological approach has placed a strong emphasis on the

influence of the environment. Present researchers believe that child abuse is rooted

in the interaction of individuals, families and their environment. In the majority of these

approaches, mothers have been the focus of study. Little attention has been paid to

fathers in order to discover if there are

gender differences in regard to child abuse.

To comprehend and measure child maltreatment, most research has focused on

retrospective cases. Many of these investigators have addressed their surveys to

parents, especially mothers. As the title of this dissertation suggests, the purpose of

this study has been to understand the problem of physical child abuse from the point

of view of gender role theory in a Mexican context. The main purpose was to discover

how gender of the abusive parent and gender of the child are related to abuse in

Mexican families. In order to reach trus goal, the target of the study was children's

perceptions rather than parents

80

behavior. We wanted to know the point of view of the victims of abuse. A third goal

was to understand which variables are related to fathers' or mothers'

abuse of their children.

To achieve this purpose, related literature on child abuse was analyzed under the

perspective of gender differences in child rearing. The focus of the study, was based on

the well-known work of Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin regarding the psychology of

sex differences. According to Peterson (1980), these scholars have done the "most

thorough and careful review of sex difference literature" (p. 31). In their review of the

literature, Maccoby and Jacklin affirm that boys and girls are treated in very similar ways in

some aspects of the socialization process. However, there are differences in the way

parents treat boys and girls. They affirm that "Parents seem to treat a child in accordance

with their knowledge of his individual temperament, interests, and abilities,

rather than in terms of sex-role stereotypes. We suspect that others, who do not know the

child well as an individual, are more likely to react to him according to their stereotyped

views of what a child of a given sex is likely to be like" (pp. 341).

With this in mind, we set out to discover possible gender differences in the matter of

physical abuse of children. The core question of the present study was: Are there gender

differences in child abuse by Mexican parents? If such differences do exist, which is the

more abusive parent? What variables are

81

related to abuse by the father or the mother? Which gender of child is more 1te-

quently abused.

This study showed that the issue of child abuse is a current problem among

Mexican families. Consistent with other studies, this one found that mothers are more

often the perpetrator of physical child abuse. Female adolescents are largely the

target of maternal abuse. Fathers appeared to be abusers under circumstances

where unemployment and alcoholism are present.

As a conclusion to our study, some theoretical, methodological and practical

implications will be suggested.

Theoretical and Methodological Implications

The results of this study are exploratory, addressed here for the purpose of

considering how fathers and mothers treat their sons and daughters with regard to

abuse and which factors are related to child abuse in a Mexican milieu.

Our literature review confirms that we lack an adequate body of literature for

understanding the complex problem of physical child abuse in the context of the

Mexican culture. Most of the literature reviewed is from North American authors. Most

of the studies have been done in the United States on Mexican-American families.

Literature on child abuse in a Mexican context is scarce. We need to develop a body of

literature to understand the etiology of violence from the point of view of Mexican

authors and with Mexican families. At the very least we need to see whether is any

parallel between the two cultures that will enable us to draw inferences with regard to

domestic violence.

82

More research needs to be done to either confirm, disprove, or clarify these results.

The study has shown that the gender of the parent and gender of the child needs to

always be taken into account in studying child abuse.

Future researches needs to include a methodology that takes into account the

greater opportunity of one parent (usually the mother) to abuse merely because that

parent is responsible for most of the parenting. There is also a need to study the ratio

of abuse per units of time with a child by mother and father.

More research is needed in order to see if the gender differences found in this

study change when parents interact with children of different ages. Do mothers use

severe and very severe abuse toward children when they are infants, or only when

they are adolescents? Who is the abusive parent in small families?

It is necessary to develop a methodology which takes into account employed fathers

and mothers and abuse. It is important to know what happens in families with dual

career parents in the matter of child abuse. At the same time it is important to know

what happens to a family when both parents have the same level of education. In

these families, who is the abusive parent? In families in which there are only sons or

daughters, which parent is more likely to abuse them? In single-parent families, which

gender child is abused more?

We also need a better understanding of differences between mothers and

fathers in inflicting severe versus minor abuse. More original research needs to be

designed to explore this complex problem. There is a need to develop

83

questionnaires that are addressed to the Mexican culture and that take into

account the concept of gender. Where instruments are used that were

developed for an Anglo population, an attempt should be made to least to

validate them for a Mexican population. There is also a need for more

journals like the Hispanic Journal of the Social Science where these

findings can be reported. New research needs to be done in order to not

only look into the causes, but also into the consequences of abused

Mexican children.

Research needs to be done with different samples in order to identify at risk

groups of parents. This research could be conducted on an experimental and control

group basis as a means of comparing group differences. How do battering parents

compare with non-batterers? If they differ, what are the differences? If they do not

differ, could this mean that in the Mexican context the use of severe abuse is seen as

proper in rearing children?

Original research needs to be designed to comprehend every aspect of the

complex problem of domestic violence. This study is only a first step, a very modest

beginning. Child abuse is a common problem in all cultures. Different aspects need

to be studied to have a wide, and at the same time, a deep vision of this serious

problem.

This study is subject to the limitations common to all methods for obtaining data in a

familial context, especially on this sensitive and painful topic. Some limitations arise

from the questionnaire itself. Open-ended or fixed responses are valid for different

purposes. Since child abuse is a complex problem, there

8

4 are questions as to which aspects should be measured? How many items should

be included in an abuse scale? The Conflict Tactic Scale, as Straus (1992: 151)

has pointed out, "is not the exception."

Another limitation of this study was that the collected data origin from children

self-report. We use them as course of information to study the parents. It is well

known that people perceive similar events differently, (Spatz, 1988). It is worth

pointing out that most adolescents are in permanent disagreement with their parents'

point of view, thus their answers might be biased. Thus it needed to be checked this

with parental, police and clinical reports, etc.)

Other limitations of this study center on the validity and reliability of the CTS in

a Mexican Context. Although the CTS has been validated for application to

Hispanic populations in the United States, its validity still needs to be

demonstrated directly with a Mexican population. Despite its limitations, however,

this study represents an important first step.

Practical Implications

Child abuse has been a reality from before the formation of the nation of Mexico.

Although it is not a new issue, it has been accepted as a twentieth century

phenomenon in most countries. Mexican society needs to recognize that child

abuse is not only a family matter, but is also a social problem. Not with standing the

lack of national statistics, we may infer that many children in Mexico have been

maltreated by distressed parents. The reported findings reveal that physical child

abuse is a current reality in the surveyed adolescents.

85

Unfortunately, Mexican society allows mothers to punish their children in ways

that are generally considered abusive in industrial societies. There are no reliable

national statistics concerning the extent of child abuse and there is no reliable

research identifying the etiology of child abuse in a Mexican milieu. There is a

government institution called DIF-PREMAN that has been set up to deal with this

problem, but to date it lacks continuity and sufficient funding for research and

development of preventive programs. Continuity is difficult because every six years

the DIFF-PREMAN gets new leaders, staff, polices, and programs. The absence of

professional literature and research on child abuse can be taken a evidence of a lack

of attention paid to this problem in Mexico.

It is seen also in the fact that educational institutions in Mexico do not include the

topic of family violence in their curriculum. Where the problem is most evident

however, is in the weakness of Mexican law. There are very few laws which apply to

the perpetrators of child abuse. Professionals need not and usually do not report

cases of child abuse to legal authorities. Therefore, my assumption is that if Mexican

parents abuse their children it is because society as

a whole allows them to do so.

Parental behavior which is deemed child abuse in industrial countries is seen as

appropriate ways of preventing misbehavior in Mexico. Violent behavior is seen as an

appropriate parental forum for discharging emotional frustrations.

In Mexico childabuse is also seen as a family matter rather than as social problem

which needs to be dealt with at the nationalleve!. Thus, social attitudes are

86

inadvertently a major contributing factor in keeping child abuse behind closed doors in

a Mexican milieu.

The Role of Society

Since domestic violence, and child abuse in particular, are complex problems,

we need to develop networks of multidisciplinary teams which can contribute to the

understandings of maltreatment at the society level. Clinicians, lawyers, physicians,

social workers, politicians, religious leaders, etc. need to cooperate to produce an

awareness of this issue. Our government agency needs to be more sensitive to this

problem and cooperate with private institutions and researchers to understand how

extensive this problem is.

The first step is to create a public organization to collect national statistics and

publish research in order to foster a culture that no longer approves of child abuse. If

our society is not aware of how widespread the problem is, most people will believe

that the issue is a family rather than a social problem. As a society we lack reliable

information on the issue. We lack an interdisciplinary network committed to prevent

abuse. There are only a few solitary voices "crying in the wilderness."

Politicians needs to enforce the existing laws to prevent abuse. But rather than

condemn the batterers, they need to organize agencies to help them to deal with

these painful situations. The Mexican Department of Justice needs to review the

laws, and promote legislation on the matter of children's rights, parents rights, and

social rights in order to see the complex problem from a systemic

87

perspective. As Bolton (1983) suggests, society needs to reconsider and

change some of its fundamental values and attitudes.

Our social structures need to change some of their polices in order facilitate

greater involvement of fathers with child care. Most fathers do not participate in

child rearing, not because they do not love their children, but because they spend

most of their time at the work place rather than at home.

Due to the different effects of unemployment on mothers and fathers, we need

programs to help unemployed fathers learn the art of parenting in non violent ways.

Fathers need to be supported when they are faced with frustrating experiences due

to financial problems and the loss of jobs, for this is when they feel most powerless.

Fathers need to learn how to better cope with the loss of a job in order to avoid

directing hostility toward theirs sons and daughters.

We also need programs for mothers who are overwhelmed by the demands of

child caring order to help them manage their feelings of frustration and isolation.

Mothers need programs to learn how to develop effective parenting techniques, and

they need to be trained in specific child management skills.

Trikett and Susman (1988) suggest that helping parents change their child-

rearing practices, use more reasoning and avoid punitive strategies can also help

children be more independent and allow mothers to develop a suitable child-mother

relationship. Belsky (1978) holds that parenting classes can allow parents to develop

better parenting skills give them a better understanding of

88

child development and help them to cope with inherent demands of parental

responsibilities.

In a study of intervention programs for abusive parents, Monaghan, et aI., (1986)

found that when mothers received emotional support and instruction they increased their

parenting skills and developed greater commitment toward their children. The classes

also increased mothers' personal strengths, and, as result, enable them to better face

social or family stress.

Mothers also need to develop a network of social support, especially those who

are not engaged in the labor force. Since many mothers feel isolated, and

overwhelmed by irritated babies, a social support system can help them overcome

loneliness and enable them to cope better.

The Role of the Family

At the familial level, parents need to be committed to their children. Some

parents become parents unintentionally. Others are concerned only about material

things. Parents need to know that children do "not live by bread alone." Furthermore,

children have rights that should be respected. They need to learn

how to rear children and handle difficulties. Committed parents will be able to help

their children become happy and responsible adults.

Fathers need to help mothers in child care. Supportive fathers help mothers

cope with child-rearing difficulties in a proper way. By helping their wives in the

discipline of their children, husbands can help them to use more reasoning

techniques and avoid severe and very severe abuse toward their daughters.

89

The couple needs to strength their relationship so that wives, can help an

unemployed husband cope with a sense of powerless and low self-esteem. Thus

fathers will not engage in abusive behavior toward their children as a form of

discharging frustration, anger and hostility.

Families need to be supported by social and private agencies to decrease the

social causes of stress such as poverty, unemployment, alcohol and drug abuse,

controlling or eliminating values, attitudes or programs to promote violence.

The Role of the Church in Ministering to Abusing Families

Violent families, without God's help and without the appropriate help of pro-

fessionals, will find themselves incapable of having a "normal" life. Their lives will

become a pilgrimage of sighs and a valley of continuous pain.

Religious institutions can be helpful in this matter. Wounded and hurting people

are usually eager for helping hands. The church should be the best place for these

people to find assistance. Before pastors can help, however, they need to reflect on

their own attitudes and beliefs regarding physical child abuse. How do they define

child abuse? What do they think about the victims? How do they feel about

batterers? How does the church board feel about domestic violence?

It is important that these questions be answered in order to determine whether

the pastor and the church are ready to assist in a way that is Christian and truly

helpful. In writing about the American church, Marie Fortune (1986)

90

states that the church is unprepared to help. However, "the sanctuary is an ap-

propriate refuge for members and non-members who need assistance" (p. 17).

Pastors are people whom God can use as channels of grace and mercy to help

bring healing for the deep wounds resulting from domestic violence.

According to Nardquis (1989, p. 8), in order to become channels of healing,

pastors need to learn some important things. First they must, "believe that violence

does occur and occurs in the lives of those who come to us." Pastors "must become

informed and aware of its nature." They also "must learn the legal requirements for

reporting abuse." Furthermore they need a "good exegetical and theological

framework of violence". And finally, "they need to know the agencies to whom they

must report."

In order to help hurting people, pastors need help with the following:

1. Pastoral attitude. As was stated above, pastors need to review their attitude

towards family violence, toward abuse in any form. They also need to review their

attitude toward gender differences. Stereotyped attitudes may tolerate machismo and

may promote father absence from the home.

2. Sensitization process. If the pastors want to achieve success in their at-

tempts to help these families, they need to undertake a process of sensitization

among their fellow members and pastoral staff.

3. Identification. The church should know which families are suffering domastic

violence. This Is the first step to help them. Levanthal (1989) States that best way to

prevent abuse is to provide preventive services to families that

91

have a high risk of abuse. Our findings reveal that mothers with adolescents

females and unemployed father are at-risk groups.

4. Being a friend of the abuser as well as the victim. When someone is friendly

he/she can break down the wall of defensiveness. Anderson (1992) recommends that

the church be viewed as a family of families and should thus intervene lovingly where

abuse occurs. The church should empower both the abuser and the abused "to move

toward healing, moral and spiritual development, and responsibility toward self and

others."

Churches also need to help mothers who may feel guilt when they abuse their

children, especially when they have inflicted severe abuse on their children.

Stressed mothers need loving and nurturing Christian support to help them face

inherent difficulties in the demanding duties of child care. Polansky, et al. (1985)

stated that mother's-day-out programs through local churches and schools have

been helpful to abusive families.

Fellow Christians can help abusive mothers during a family crises. Buckles

(1985) states that an effective help for violent families during a family crises is to invite

the stressed parent or the abused child to live with a friend whom the parent can trust

and rely upon.

5. Having compassion. Abusive parents generally feel rejected and criticized

by relatives, fellow members, and friends. Abused children also feel unloved and

unworthy. They should know that their Christian brothers and sisters love and

accept them. Providing an atmosphere of acceptance for the abusing

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parent is an important way to support violent parents. Overwhelmed mothers need

compassion, not criticism. Some of them may be faced with rebellious adolescents,

with poverty and with an absent or alcoholic or unemployed husband. Fathers who

have lost their jobs need help to face the accompanying loss of economic and

emotional benefits. Unemployed and abusive fathers also need the compassion of

their fellow members.

6. Being comforting. Abusive families are suffering rejection, stigma, shame, and

guilt. We need to comfort them as the apostle Paul stated, "God comforts us in all our

troubles, so that we can confort those in any trouble with the confort we ourselves have

received from God." (2 Corinthians 1 :3,4).

7. Social networks. These families may be isolated. We can help them to improve their

social network, as Pauls says the older women train the younger to love their husband and

children (Titus 2:3). Polansky (1985) states that church groups are an effective way to help

violent families. Caliso and Milner (1992) point out that mothers who break the cycle of

abuse have emotionally supportive relationships with friends. Maltreated adolescents,

overwhelmed mothers and unemployed fathers need support from a Christian group.

These church groups may develop social and recreational activities in which these

members of violent homes can participate. They can help stressed mothers during family

crises by providing a place where they can go to relax. This group may help unemployed

fathers either to find a job or give emotional support to help cope wrth joblessness.

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8. Provide child care. One effective form of preventing child abuse is to provide

child care. The church as an institution and members of the family of God can provide

a mothers' day out, and day-care centers. Garbarino, according to Belsky (1978),

proposed child care networks, crisis nurseries, and homemakers services as

effective ways to reduce abuse. By alleviating stress, reducing socioeconomic

pressures, and increasing support for mothers, we can prevent or reduce violence

against children (Tulkin, 1972). Churches also should provide premarital counseling

to couples to be prepared for parenting responsibilities.

9. Parent education. A great number of violent parents say that they were

rushed into marriage and parenthood without proper preparation. Miller (1983),

affirms that violent parents do not know how to manage or cope with their children.

Parents are not violent because they want to be, but because they do not understand

the process of rearing children. Therefore the church can help them cope with

parenting, which is a very demanding task. Kashani, et al. (1982) suggest that the

goal of parenting classes should be to increase parent's awareness of their children's

needs.

Parents need to acquire a new understanding of what it means to be human.

Parent need to know what the Scriptures say about being human, knowing that

children at any age and of each gender are human. As a start I would suggest the

following biblically principles of parental respect of their children:

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a) Every child (sons and daughters) is someone special. "Children are a

heritage from the Lord, children are a reward from him" (Psalm 127:3).

b) Every person is someone special. "Since you are precious and honored in my

sight, and because I love you" (Isaiah 43:4). The existence of each human being is an

act of divine love. God made male and female in his own image. Thus parents should

give sons and daughters equal treatment.

c) Good parenting is a divine commandment. "Fathers do not exasperate

your children; instead, bring them up in training and instruction of the Lord"

(Ephesians 6:4).

d) "Human parents stand in a relation to their children in a way analogous to the

way in which God is related to his people" (Anderson and Guernsey, 1985). "As the

father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who

fear him" (Psalm. 103: 13).

10. The church, as the church, needs to stand squarely against all forms of

domestic violence. It needs to proclaim that scripture leaves no room for physical

abuse of children. In the name of the church, Christians leaders need to take a strong

public position against child abuse. The nature of the church obligate pastors to stand

against abuse in the same way that it stand again injustice. Religious leaders need to

do more than put their weigh behind a social causes. As Christians, they must be

convinced on Scriptural grounds that a just God de-

95

Our findings reveal that child abuse is an unfortunate reality in Mexico.

Since this is a complex phenomenon, researchers, clinicians, and religious leaders

have the responsibility of finding ways to prevent this problem. We need to help

mothers cope with current problems of abuse. Unemployed fathers need to be trained

so they can get a better-paying job. Adolescents need to learn how maintain a healthy

relationship with their mother, and look for independence without provoking conflict

with them. The entire family also needs help in coping with social stressors.

In the Mexican context, we need a Christian network for assisting victims of

abuse as well as for the batterers. Mothers of adolescents especially need support,

since they are prone to be the more abusive parent in our study. Thus, they need

support from the family as well as the social agencies. Unemployed fathers are also

at risk, and need help from the family, as well as from fellow Christian clinicians and

policy makers. In Mexican context adolescent girls are also at risk, too. They need

guidance, support and help to develop a sense of worth, independence,

responsibility.

Public policy needs to be developed to ameliorate the effects of abuse.

Preventive programs need to be developed in order to reduce violence in new

families and especially in families with adolescents girls and in families with an

unemployed father and an overwhelmed mother.

Every Mexican should be committed to preventing violence toward children, as

well as to helping wounded families. They need to be prepared to help these

96

families learn how to enhance their relationships in order to have happier families.

Summary

This empirical study affirms that physical child abuse is a current problem

among surveyed adolescents in a Mexican, urban population. Maltreated children

come from all types of families. Children can be maltreated by either the mother or

the father. Although there is no "profile" of a typical child abuser, our findings

suggest that:

2. Mothers abuse more than fathers. In particular, mothers are found to

abuse their daughters more than their sons.

3. Unemployed fathers are at a higher risk of abusing than employed

fathers.

4.The less educated the parents, the more abusive they tend to be. Therefore, this

study reaffirms that there is no sole underlying cause of abuse among Mexican

parents. Further studies need to be done in order to find the most common variables

conducive to parental child abuse in a Mexican context.

This study, as with most research, raises as many questions as it answers.

Some of the questions which this study attempt to answer are: Why are the Mexican

fathers--stereotyped as authoritarian and macho--reported as less abusive? Why is it

that although mothers are portrayed as submissive and loving, they were reported as

the most abusive in the Mexican sample? Are they taking

97

out their frustration, anger and hostility, resulting from marital dissatisfaction,

on their children? Or are they following a cultural pattern of discipline for their

children and thus do not consider it as abuse? Further studies are needed to

expand upon the answers given in this study.

5.

APPENDIX A

INSTRUMENT

IOq

APPENDIX B

LETTERS

116

6.

117

FANULY RESEARCH LABORATORY University of New Hampshire Murray A. Straus, Co-Director

126 Horton Social Science Center Phone (603) 862-2594

Durham, NH 03824 FAX (603) 862-1122

16 May 1994

Mr. Antonio Estrada

14534 Biola Avenue

La Mirada CA 90638

Dear Mr. Estrada:

I am responding to your inquiry about using the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS).

Permission. If you requested permission to use the CTS, this letter

is my permission for you to use the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS).

Test Manual. Much new information has become available since the original

paper on the CTS which was published in 1979. I therefore prepared a test

manual which includes a revised version of the 1979 paper and a number

of other chapters, together with a 33 page bibliography of studies using

the CTS. A table of contents is attached. The cost is $25 including postage

and packaging.

When a report of your study is available, I would appreciate being sent a copy.

I will add it to the bibliography of research using the CTS.

119

Translation of the authorization letter from Education Office regarding survey.

Mr. JORGE GONZALEZ MOLINAR

Dear Mrs. Molinar,

By this means I would like to ask you, that you kindly give Professor Antonio

Estrada from Montemorelos University Family Relations Master's Degree Program all

necessary support in regards to his research.

Mr. Estrada is actually dedicated to this research as a part of his doctoral

dissertation. On his study, he deals with family problems, and how to work them out.

Hereby, I thank you beforehand.

Sincerely;

Angel Alberto Alameda

50

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS ON GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CHILD ABUSE IN

MEXICAN FAMILIES LIVING IN MEXICO

This chapter is divided into two major sections. The first section gives a general

descriptive summary of the data. The second uses inferential statistics to highlight

five important measured dimensions of child abuse. The first variable to be

addressed is the gender of the parent as related to abuse. The next three variables

concern the differences between fathers and mothers related to abuse in conjunction

with the number of children at home, the employment status of the parents, and the

educational level of the parents. Finally, the fifth variable we will consider focuses on

the relationship between all dimensions of abuse, the gender of the parents, and the

gender of the child.

General Description of the Sample

Student Profile

A total of 832 junior-high students were surveyed in Mexico. Of those, 13 didn't

answer the question about gender, 410 (49.3%) were male and 409 (49.2%) were

female. They ranged between 13 and 17 years of age with the rnajority (61.7% or

513) being 14 years old. Sixty seven percent (67%) had between one and three

brothers and/or sisters, while (29%) had four or more.

The biological father of eighty two percent (82%) of them was living at home.