ii
Abstrac
t
The impact of physical abuse on children has been heavily researched relative to
their behavior and outcomes in life. Several studies have framed child abuse in terms of
an ecological model
and the issues surrounding the abuse
(Belsky, 1980; Coohey &
Br
aun, 1997, &
Stockhammer et al., 2001).
An Ecological Approach to Understanding
Physical Child Abuse and the Impact on Academics: Differences between Behaviors in
Physically Abused and Nonabused Children Regarding Parental Discipline Practices,
Family Inte
raction, and Family Events and Their Effects on Social Interaction and
School Success
is a
secondary analysis of data gathered by Salzinger, Feldman and Ng
-
Mak (1992
-
1996), of their study on
Social Relationships of Physically Abused
Schoolchildren
. This st
udy builds on previous physically abused children’s research by
framing the abuse in an ecological model and determining the role that various ecological
factors that are associated with physical abuse play regarding their impact on children’s
reading perc
entiles, math percentiles, and days absent from school. This investigation
examined three research questions regarding the relationship between physical abuse and
children’s reading percentiles, math percentiles, and absentee rates. The first hypothesis
lo
oked at the differences between physically abused children and nonabused children
across the ecological model, and was mostly supported. The study found that on the
average, physically abused children had more behavioral problems, differences in
parental d
isciplinary practices, more conflict in family interactions, and more negative
family events than their nonabused peers. Physically abused children were found to have