PHYSIOLOGICAL HYPERREACTIVITY TO STRESSORS IN PHYSICAL CHILD-ABUSERS AND INDIVIDUALS AT RISK FOR BEING PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE

Research on the physiological reactivity of physical child abusers and individuals at risk for being physically abusive is summarized and cr itiqued. Several theorists have hypothesized that physical child abuse rs experience physiological hyperreactivity to stressors, particularly stressful child interactions associated with child rearing. The exper imental evidence generally supports the physiological hyperreactivity hypothesis, although there are some contradictory and inconsistent res ults within individual studies and across studies. The research also i ndicates that the physiological hyperreactivity of physical child abus ers and those at risk for being physically abusive occurs during a wid e variety of stimulus situations, including aversive child-related sti muli, nonaversive child-related stimuli, aversive nonchild-related sti muli, and during periods when no overt stimulus is present (resting or baseline periods). Recommendations concerning procedural and methodol ogical improvements are made in order to enable future researchers to better address unresolved issues related to the physiological hyperrea ctivity hypothesis. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd