| Abstract: | Previous etiological models of child abuse are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the current social interactional analysis. It is argued that while this model accounts for the documented correlates of abuse, it fails to provide a plausible mechanism for explaining the rapid acceleration from low- to high-intensity punitive behavior characteristic of abusive episodes. Drawing from research on interpersonal aggression by Berkowitz, Zillmann, and other social psychologists, a model is developed in which an arousal-mediated respondent component is added to the current instrumentally based punitive processes. Implications of this improved analysis for treatment and prevention are considered. |
