Child abuse: a black perspective utilizing a social-psychological model.

The majority of models utilized in the formulation of the dynamics of child abuse rely upon an individual psychopathological frame of reference. Not only is this approach limited, but it renders primary preventive approaches virtually impossible. The author presents a social-psychological model, with the recommendation that it be applied among blacks. Essential to the model's applicability is the vulnerability of blacks to institutionalized racism and to the universal and destructive institutional abuse to which blacks are subjected. While often quite covert, this abuse is nonetheless extremely noxious, and serves to potentiate the view blacks have of themselves as undervalued individuals, and as individuals who have no alternative other than to commit abuse to others. Child abuse in blacks is viewed as reactive in nature-reactive to societal abuse. This adaptational model of child abuse, rather than precluding an individual psychopathological model, complements it. Use of this model should facilitate primary prevention with respect to child abuse. Current approaches to child abuse are comparable to "an ambulance service at the bottom of a cliff." What is lacking is an approach that will "fix the road on the cliff that causes the accidents." Only by examining the intricate interplay between individual and society can the factors that lead to child abuse be modified.