Showers J, Pickrell E
Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1987 May;38(5):495-501. doi: 10.1176/ps.38.5.495.
Child firesetting constitutes a serious and widespread problem, yet little definitive evidence exists distinguishing child firesetters from their nonfiresetting peers. The authors studied the characteristics of 186 firesetters and 165 age- and sex-matched controls at two state psychiatric hospitals for children, six community mental health centers, and a children's medical hospital. Their findings failed to corroborate results of other studies that have suggested correlations between firesetting and enuresis, sexual conflicts, low intelligence, large family size, economic deprivation, adoption, and a diagnosis of psychosis. However, the study did support the finding, reported in other studies, that firesetters tend to have conduct problems, such as disobedience and aggressiveness, and it also found that firesetters experienced significantly more emotional neglect and physical abuse. The results underscore the importance of parental nurturing and early intervention for children who are abused and neglected.
儿童纵火是一个严重且普遍存在的问题，但几乎没有确凿证据能将儿童纵火者与其未纵火的同龄人区分开来。作者在两家州立儿童精神病医院、六个社区心理健康中心和一家儿童医院，对186名纵火儿童和165名年龄及性别匹配的对照组儿童的特征进行了研究。他们的研究结果未能证实其他研究中提出的纵火与尿床、性冲突、低智商、大家庭规模、经济贫困、收养以及精神病诊断之间的相关性。然而，该研究确实支持了其他研究报告的发现，即纵火者往往存在行为问题，如不听话和攻击性，并且还发现纵火者遭受的情感忽视和身体虐待明显更多。这些结果强调了对受虐待和被忽视儿童进行父母养育和早期干预的重要性。
