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Child ecology and child abuse as one of the new morbidities and new mortalities
Author(s) -
KOBAYASHI NOBORU
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
pediatrics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.49
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-200X
pISSN - 1328-8067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-200x.1995.tb03315.x
Subject(s) - medicine , citation , library science , pediatrics , computer science
When one considers ‘child abuse’, one should realize that this condition was not reported in pediatric textbooks until 1970 or so. This is, therefore a rather new disease entity. One must recall that many psychosomatic disorders and behavioral problems of children, such as violence, homicide, school refusal and absenteeism, suicide, and bullying are also newcomers to textbooks. They may be categorized as ‘new morbidities and new mortalities’ as coined by Haggeny (pers. comm.). Of course, a new infectious disease must also be added to this group, namely children’s AIDS. We know that this is not a simple medical problem, but rather a sociocultural one, since it is often related to behavioral problems of the parents and problems in society. Ecological considerations are essential to a general examination of the new morbidities and new mortalities. For these problems, including child abuse, sociocultural factors are the most important and include the issues of parent-child bonding failure, family infrastructure instability, schooling inadequacy, information excess and rapid alteration of norms in society. It is clear that sociocultural factors greatly contribute to new morbidities and mortalities as a whole, including child abuse. The risk factors to child abuse in Japan are similar to those occurring in developed countries such as USA and UK. These include the small-for-date child, children with physical and mental problems, twins, as well as parental issues such as abnormal personality, economic problems, marital discord or divorce, the unwanted child, and the physical and mental burden of child care. All of these factors disturb the interaction between parents, particularly between a mother and child. It should be mentioned that early separation from the parents and delayed reunion is also one of the most important risk factors for child abuse in Japan. However, there is a difference in the degree and the pattern of attributes in each culture, as will be apparent in this issue. In order to solve these problems, we need to establish a ‘child ecology’ as a basis for the biological considerations