Child maltreatment in Greece: a review of research

✍ Scribed by Helen Agathonos-Georgopoulou

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 226 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-9136
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0852(199710)6:4<257::aid-car335>3.0.co;2-3

✦ Synopsis

Child maltreatment can be traced in Greek mythology, history and literature. Greek society has always used passive or active violence towards its dependent members, including children. In the last 17 years there have been a number of studies describing child maltreatment in contemporary Greece. Most have used small clinical samples; nevertheless, their ®ndings are comparable to those of other countries and their results support the psychopathological causality of child maltreatment. A number of studies on child-rearing practices and on children's socialization have revealed an extensive use of physical punishment related to the child's opposition to parental authority and high parental expectations often linked with the child's school performance. Another small set of studies assessed the eectiveness of social policy and the appropriateness of the child protection system. On the basis of the studies on child maltreatment in Greece, the author proposes ®rstly the adoption of an operational de®nition which takes into consideration community attitudes and culture. A second proposal relates to the application of an ecological theoretical model stressing the mutual interaction of dierent systems and their cumulative eects. Lastly, it is suggested that social policy measures should be introduced in the ®eld of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. *