Child abuse & neglect
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Child abuse & neglect · Jan 2001
Childhood physical abuse, early social support, and risk for maltreatment: current social support as a mediator of risk for child physical abuse.
The study investigated whether perceptions of social support in adulthood partially mediated the associations between childhood experiences (i.e., receipt of physical abuse and levels of early social support) and adult risk for child physical abuse. ⋯ Low levels of early support may impact risk for child physical abuse by affecting perceptions of others as supportive in adulthood. The receipt of physical abuse in childhood, however, does not appear to impact perceptions of support in adulthood. Research is needed to identify additional factors that may explain the association between receipt of physical abuse in childhood and increased risk of child physical abuse in adulthood.