Citation

Margolin L. J. Fam. Violence 1990; 5(2): 95-105.

Affiliation

Department of Home Economics, The University of Iowa, 52242 Iowa City, Iowa

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00978513

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study explored the social contexts in which physical abuse by baby-sitters occurred. This was accomplished through a content analysis of 98 founded case records of physical abuse committed by baby-sitters. In 70% of the case records there was evidence that sitters had a conflict with the victim prior to the abusive act. Children fighting with other children was the most common type of disturbance, followed by conflicts surrounding toilet training, children''s continuous crying, disobedience, and rudeness. There was evidence that parents'' explicit or implicit approval of baby-sitters'' violence contributed to the child abuse in approximately one-quarter of the cases.