Bardi M, Borgognini-Tarli S M
Department of Ethology, Ecology, and Evolution, University of Pisa, Italy.
Child Abuse Negl. 2001 Jun;25(6):839-53. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2134(01)00242-3.
The purpose of this paper was to investigate factors associated with intrafamily violence toward children in Italy. Family structure and the characteristics of both caretakers and children were explored. Their association with the incidence of minor and severe violence was analyzed to test the hypothesis that child physical abuse is related to a combination of different factors involving the family as a whole.
This research was carried out by submitting an anonymous questionnaire to 2388 families residing in Tuscany, Italy. The form included two sections, one related to the family cultural substrate, and to potentially influential events affecting the family during the year 1998. The other one, taken from the conflict tactics (CT) scales, presented a hierarchy of possible responses to conflict.
Physical punishment appeared to be a general behavior in Italy, because the incidence of minor violence was 77%. The incidence of severe violence was about 8%. When considering family, caretaker, and child characteristics mostly associated with physical punishment in Italy, we found that families with a low income, where caretakers had health problems or were stressed, and with younger and more "problematic" children presented the highest risk of intrafamily violence during conflict resolution.
The results point to the importance of a balance between potentiating and compensatory factors in complex and dynamic relationships among family members, to avoid strategy resolution of conflict ultimately leading to violence. Moreover, minor and severe violence appeared to be two related but different phenomena.
本文旨在调查意大利家庭内部针对儿童暴力行为的相关因素。探讨了家庭结构以及照顾者和儿童的特征。分析了它们与轻度和重度暴力发生率的关联，以检验儿童身体虐待与涉及整个家庭的不同因素组合相关这一假设。
本研究通过向居住在意大利托斯卡纳的2388个家庭发放匿名问卷来进行。问卷包括两个部分，一部分与家庭文化背景以及1998年期间影响家庭的潜在重大事件有关。另一部分取自冲突策略（CT）量表，列出了对冲突可能的应对等级。
在意大利，体罚似乎是一种普遍行为，因为轻度暴力的发生率为77%。重度暴力的发生率约为8%。在考虑意大利与体罚最相关的家庭、照顾者和儿童特征时，我们发现低收入家庭、照顾者有健康问题或压力大的家庭以及有年幼且更“难管教”孩子的家庭，在冲突解决过程中发生家庭内部暴力的风险最高。
研究结果表明，在家庭成员之间复杂且动态的关系中，增强因素和补偿因素之间保持平衡非常重要，以避免冲突解决策略最终导致暴力。此外，轻度和重度暴力似乎是两种相关但不同的现象。
