DEFINITIONS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE - A PRELIMINARY INQUIRY INTO CHILDRENS PERCEPTIONS

Research and policy-makers have frequently called for operational defi nitions of child abuse, however neither group has considered including children's perceptions of what constitutes abuse. The purpose of this study was to expand the discussion on definitions of child abuse by e xamining children's perceptions of physical abuse. This was done by co llecting data to begin to document abused children's ratings of the se riousness of various abusive acts and to begin to examine gender and a ge differences in children's perceptions. The data revealed significan t differences in children's perceptions of the seriousness of specific acts of abuse and a significant interaction between age and type of a buse. Although young children generally produced lower seriousness rat ings than older children, their ratings were significantly lower on on ly a few types of abuse. When children's ratings were compared to simi lar ratings reported in earlier studies of adolescents, community memb ers, and mental health professionals, the children in this study rated the abusive acts as less serious than the adolescents or community me mbers, but very similar to the professionals who work in the area of c hild abuse and neglect. Although this must be considered a preliminary investigation, the potential implications for various legal and socia l contexts are discussed.