Detección y caracterización del maltrato infantil en la Comunidad Autónoma Andaluza

Resumen

Este artículo presenta un resumen de los resultados obtenidos en una investigación realizada con el objetivo de analizar la magnitud y caracterización que presenta el problema del maltrato infantil en la Comunidad Autónoma Andaluza. Para recoger esta información se solicitó la colaboración de distintos servicios públicos que desde diferentes aproximaciones (educativas, sanitarias y de servicio social) tienen contacto con la infancia. A tal efecto se facilitó un sistema de definiciones que ayudaba a operativizar las diferentes tipologías de maltrato manejadas. Los resultados permiten estimar la incidencia del maltrato en torno a un 15 por mil, con una mayor presencia de las tipologías de Negligencia, Maltrato Emocional y Maltrato Físico (en ese orden), con un perfil de incidencia diferente según las edades y el sexo de quienes lo padecen, así como unas características de los padres, de las familias en las que se produce y de los propios niños que añaden una información de cierto interés a la literatura existente en torno a los factores de riesgo que rodean el fenómeno del maltrato. Como se discute al final del artículo, algunos de los resultados son interpretables en función de las características y sensibilidad de los diferentes dispositivos que han participado en el studio.

Abstract

This paper reports the incidence and characterics of child abuse in the Andalusian Autonomous Community. To gather this information, we sought the collaboration of various public services—educational, health, and social services—catering to children's needs from different approaches. Definitions were provided to help characterize the different types of abuse considered. The magnitud of child abuse was estimated at about 15 per thousand. Most frequent types were: neglect, emotional abuse, and physical abuse, in that order. The profile of abuse was found to be determined by: the age and sex of the child; parental and child characteristics; and the family environment. This data adds information of interest to existing literature on risk factors surrounding the phenomena of abuse. Some results are interpreted in terms of the characteristics and sensitivity shown by the different services that participated in the study.

Extended Summary

The paper reports results from a study carried out in 1993 in the Andalusian Autonomous Community. Its aim was, first, to record the number of cases of abuse in the family detected in 1992; secondly, to determine the characteristics of these abusing episodes to minors.

Various child related government agencies working from different professional and administrative approaches collaborated in the study. Thus, we studied files kept at local branches of the Head-Office for Child Care (Dirección General de Atención al Niño); we contacted a representative sample of preschool and primary school teachers from state and private schools working in rural and urban areas were contacted. finally, local social and health services were also involved (health centres, hospitals, district mental health teams, and child mental health units).

All cases of abuse detected were registered according to a protocol gathering information on: the nature of the centre, information about child, type of abuse (seven were included: Physical Abuse, Neglect, Sexual Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Begging, Corruption, and Labour Exploitation), information about the abuser or abusers, and some data related with child, parental, and familial characteristics.

Results show that the most frequent types of abuse are: Neglect, Emotional Abuse, and Physical Abuse, in that order. About half of the children abused are subjected to one type of abuse, the rest to two (30.5%) or more types at the same time. Although boys represent a higher number of cases, differences with the girls are only significant when related to Corruption. Quite the contrary, compared to males, females have a significantly higher risk of being victims of Labor Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. Regarding age, the overall pattern adopts an inverted «U» distribution characteristic of the three most frequent types of abuse mentioned above. There is a gradual increase up to six years of age, followed by a period of stability and a drop in reaching puberty.

Victims of some form of abuse are in general characterized by: low school attendance, low achievement, attention difficulties, isolation, emotional instability, and aggressivenes. Analyses carried out according to type of abuse show that, for example, victims of Neglect are particularly poor school attenders and frequently suffer from malnutrition and chronic illnesses; along the same lines, those who suffer Emotional Abuse are more prone to fear, aggressiveness and emotional instability. Some general characteristics found in abusing parents are: to posses a criminal record; alcoholism, drug addiction, and psychiatric problems. The latter is frequently present in parents who inflict Emotional Abuse.

Finally, families were some form of abuse takes place are characterized by: frequent marital disputes; mother or father abandons home; isolation from other families; unemployment; economic difficulties; and housing problems. Analyses according to type of abuse show that: unemployment, economic difficulties, overcrowding and housing problems are most frequent in cases of Neglect, while parental discord is most frequent in cases of Emotional Abuse.

The final discussion highlights the importance of certain methodological issues encompassing this type of research which help to understand some of the tendencies found in the data.

Palabras clave:

• Maltrato infantil
• detección
• incidencia
• factores de riesgo

Keywords:

• Child abuse
• detection
• incidence
• risk factors