Disability and Child Abuse: an Introduction to Study Review

Abstract

The paper presents a review of the most representative and frequently quoted in literature studies which were focused on the relationship between child abuse and disability. Although these studies have been undertaken intensively only since 1990, researchers are sure that the connection between these two phenomena is clear and indeed it is sofisticated. The author of the paper proposes a picture – a kind of systematization of the main directions of research into the subject. The research tendencies that were revealed in the overview done by the author on the basis of the content of the most representative in periodical child abuse literature Child “Abuse and Neglect. The International Journal”, are illustrated with examples of studies and theirs outcomes. This proposition of the systematization may be useful for researchers by inspiring them to undertake their own investigations. In turn, developing empirical and theoretical analyses of the problems concerning child maltreatment, in the context of children’s or parents’ disability, may prove beneficial for intervention practice. The paper is particularly addressed to researchers from countries where the subject has not been studied so far, has been neglected or the field of connections between disability and abuse has not been considered as an important one (eg. to Polish researchers).