Belsky And Intergenerational Theory Analysis

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When dealing with families who are entering the child welfare system, social workers need to examine the entire family, their history that contributes to the current problem, and the societal context of their homes (Popple & Vecchiolla, 2007). There are many proposals for why child maltreatment and Belsky outlines three explanations and a fourth theory for why parents maltreat their children.
Intergenerational theory focuses on parents who maltreat their children due to the fact that they were maltreated as children (Popple & Vecchiolla, 2007). This theory argues that maltreated children are affected in many ways and that parents who did not have the proper role models as children, will not learn the proper parenting skills. Children who are maltreated can have development problems that include having little or no empathy towards others, inadequate anger management skills, and limited coping skills. When adults who have gone through troubling childhood experiences and does not work through the issues, they are likely …show more content…

This theory suggest that parents who abuse their children have negative interaction patterns with them and will discipline their children more harshly. Belsky explains that parents who tends have a predisposition towards anxiety, depression will become irritated towards their child (Popple & Vecchiolla, 2007). That could lead them to trying to physically or instrumentally control their child, but loses control of themselves and resulting in punishing the child too severely. One example can be is that a child is loudly playing with a toy and the parent gets overly angered and frustrated. They go to punish the child, but instead of simply disciplining the child, they physically harm the child. With this behavior, it could lead to severely harming the child and them learning bad

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