INDEX
 |
The ability to identify emotions is deemed an important social skill acquired by young children (Camras et at, 1983; Gottman, Gonso, & Rasmussen, 1975; Howes & Espinosa, 1985; Roscoe & Peterson, 1983). Abused children have difficulties with emotion recognition, which is involved in a number of social acts. For example, emotion recognition plays an important role in empathic responding (Camras et al., 1983, p. 325). Empathy underlies many children's distress – relieving behaviors sometimes mitigating their aggressive responses (Aronfreed, 1968; Camras et al., 1983; Hoffman, 1975). Empathy, in children, is expressed through physical emotion. By age six, normal children can identify with significant accuracy a number of facial expressions considered to be universal expressions of emotion. Abused children have difficulty in identifying and expressing basic emotions. Similar difficulty is evident in their recognition of emotions conveyed by facial expressions. Oftentimes, abused children being less accurate than non-abused children in identifying emotional expression – are perceived by their teachers and care providers as being less socially adept than their peers. This deficiency frequently contributes to the abused child's inaccurate perceptions of the emotions of others and leads to problems in both peer and parent social interaction. Studies by Barahal, Waterman and Martin (1981), Burgess and Conger (1978). and Camras et at (1983) have suggested that expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise in abused children are sporadic and well calculated because they are constantly scanning their surroundings expecting the worst. The parents of these abused children rarely express happy emotions but are quick to show anger, sadness, and disgust. They engage in limited positive interactions with their children and are quick to highlight the negative. Consequently, the expressions of abused children are generally bland and unobtrusive. The lack of social response and emotion, as well as variations in the quality of exchange between parent and child, are far more striking in abused children. Abused children show little reaction to separation from parents and little of the usual kind of anxiety about strangers that is found in non-abused children. Frequently, abused and neglected children under the age of three show generalized apathy or passivity. Care providers must be attuned to parent-child interactions as well as to child-to-child and child-to-adult interactions. It is the parent-child relationship that makes abused children particularly vulnerable to maladaptive peer interaction and relationships. These parent-child relationships influence the abused child's ability to form secure attachment relationships. Recognition of imparities in these relationships is a key factor in identifying children in abusive and neglectful situations. Day care personnel can function as alternative social support systems, thus becoming attachment figures for abused children and facilitating positive peer and adult relationships. |
|
|
|
|
|
