During the second half of 2015, Sweden experienced the largest inflow of asylum-seekers in its history. Almost 163,000 people sought asylum in 2015, whereof approximately 70,000 children. The influx challenged the reception system and severe child protection concerns such as disappearances and sexual exploitation of unaccompanied minors were identified. Half of the children that arrived in 2015 came with families but this group have received less attention so far. The aim of this study was to explore the child protection systems around asylum-seeking and returning children in families by identifying child protection concerns and existing gaps in the services provided to this target group. Fourteen semi-structured interviews with twenty individuals belonging to various stakeholder groups such as staff at asylum accommodations, social workers, parents and, volunteer and staff from civil society organisations were conducted in two municipalities in Skåne, Sweden. The data was analysed using thematic analysis and the results are discussed in regards to the Protective Environment Framework. The results suggest that children in migration, with families, face multiple protection concerns in Sweden. Significant gaps exist in the services provided to these children and there are large disparities between accommodation centres. Many accommodations fail to provide a child-friendly environment and gender separated sanitation facilities. Furthermore, the results point out the importance of increasing competence of child protection among actors, and to increase preventive measure directed towards the parents in order to ensure a protective and safe environment for children.

Sammanfattning   Bakgrund Skolsköterskan träffar alla barn under skolgången vid minst tre planerade tillfällen för hälsobesök. Tillsammans med andra professioner i skolan har skolsköterskan möjlighet att identifiera barn som far illa och har lagstadgad anmälningsplikt. Vid misstanke om samt anmälan av barn som far illa finns det risk för att skolsköterskor utsätts för stress och kan uppleva olika etiska dilemman. Detta gör det angeläget att ta reda på deras erfarenheter inom området. Syfte Att beskriva skolsköterskors erfarenheter av etiska dilemman vid misstanke om att barn far illa samt anmälan därav. Metod Studien genomfördes i två kommuner i sydsverige. Materialet samlades in vid elva intervjuer med skolsköterskor och analyserades med kvalitativ manifest innehållsanalys. Resultat De etiska dilemman som skolsköterskorna upplevde kategoriserades i fyra kategorier och elva underkategorier. Att bygga upp och bevara förtroendefulla relationer med barnen och föräldrarna var viktigt för skolsköterskorna. Viljan att göra rätt upplevdes som en svår uppgift eftersom det innebar att identifiera barn som far illa, att göra sin plikt, men även att göra nytta och inte skada. Skolsköterskorna kunde känna sig ensamma och utsatta i sin profession samt i behov av stöd, både från kollegor men även från andra professioner. De saknade återkoppling från socialtjänsten och önskade att de hade ett bättre samarbete. Slutsats Skolsköterskorna upplevde etiska dilemman i mötet med barn som far illa samt vid lagstadgad anmälan. Handledning, stöd under hela processen samt bättre samarbete med socialtjänsten skulle kunna leda till fler anmälningar. Utbildning samt standardiserade bedömningsinstrument bör kunna medföra att fler barn som far illa identifieras.   Nyckelord Skolsköterskor, barn som far illa, etiska dilemman, anmälningsskyldighet / Abstract Background The school nurse sees all children at least three times during their school years in connection to planned health visits. Together with other school professionals the nurse has the possibility to identify maltreated children and is obligated by law to report it. Suspecting and reporting child maltreatment might implicate an exposure to stress and dealing with various ethical dilemmas. It is therefore important to investigate the school nurses’ experiences concerning this issue. Aim To describe the school nurses’ experiences of ethical dilemmas when suspecting and reporting child maltreatment. Method The study was conducted in two counties in southern Sweden. Data was collected by interviewing eleven school nurses and analyzed by using a qualitative manifest content analysis. Results The ethical dilemmas experienced by the school nurses were categorized in four categories and eleven subcategories. Building and maintaining trustful relationships with the children and their parents was important for the school nurses. The wish to do right was experienced as difficult since it meant to identify maltreated children, to report it, and at the same do good and do no harm. The school nurses felt alone and vulnerable in this situation and needed support both from colleagues and other professionals. They lacked feedback from the child protection services and were yearning for a better collaboration. Conclusion The school nurses experienced ethical dilemmas when meeting maltreated children and being obligated to report it. Supervision, support during the process and a better teamwork with the child protection services may increase the reporting rate. Education and standard assessment instruments might increase the number of identified maltreated children.   Keywords School nurses, child maltreatment, ethical dilemmas, mandatory reporting

UA Open Access Publishing Fund / This study examined associations between alcohol misuse and childhood maltreatment and out-of-home placement among urban lesbian, gay, and bisexual (referred to as two-spirit) American Indian and Alaska Native adults. In a multi-site study, data were obtained from 294 individuals who consumed alcohol during the past year. The results indicated that 72.3% of men and 62.4% of women engaged in hazardous and harmful alcohol use and 50.8% of men and 48.7% of women met criteria for past-year alcohol dependence. The most common types of childhood maltreatment were physical abuse among male drinkers (62.7%) and emotional abuse (71.8%) among female drinkers. Men and women reported high percentages of out-of-home placement (39% and 47%, respectively). Logistic multiple regressions found that for male drinkers boarding school attendance and foster care placement were significant predictors of past-year alcohol dependence. For female drinkers, being adopted was significantly associated with a decreased risk of past-year drinking binge or spree. Dose-response relationships, using number of childhood exposures as a predictor, were not significant. The results highlight the need for alcohol and violence prevention and intervention strategies among urban two-spirit individuals.

Child abuse and neglect is a significant social issue with long term consequences for affected children and young people, including increased risk of emotional and social difficulties. Models of the impacts of maltreatment outline a developmental process in which maltreating parent-child relationships affect the development of neural networks, which in turn undermine developing cognitive processes, including emotion regulation and social understanding, thereby increasing risk of emotional and social difficulties. This study explores a subset of these cognitive processes in a sample of adolescents in long-term out-of-home care as a result of maltreatment, relative to a sample of non-maltreated peers, including situation selection (conditioned avoidance and risk-taking), attentional deployment (attention biases and attention control) and cognitive change (interpretation bias), as well as aspects of social understanding (mentalising, emotion understanding and prosocial responding). Further, the relative effects of maltreatment factors, and the relationship between emotion regulation and social understanding with adolescent adjustment was also explored. Results demonstrated maltreatment-related effects in conditioned avoidance, risk-taking, attention processes and social understanding, and explored the relative effect of exposure to physical abuse on the development of these processes, differences in such processes did not appear to significantly predict poor or normative adjustment of maltreated adolescents. These results are discussed with respect to models of maltreatment, emotion regulation and social understanding, with implications for the development and implementation of interventions.

This dissertation examined certain distal and proximal relational factors and emotional capabilities of individuals in therapeutic programs in Greece. The three studies aimed to extend existing work by examining links between distal (child abuse reports) and proximal (adult attachment, social support) relation factors with psychological health outcomes of substance users in addiction treatment programs. The results from the three studies supported the view that: a) distal (childhood maltreatment) and proximal (attachment organization) relational factors are important predictors of substance users’ well-being; b) proximal factors (anxious attachment) mediate effects of abusive experiences; c) emotional capabilities and specifically regulatory processes have a prominent role as mediators of relational factors on substance users’ well-being.

Background: Child maltreatment is a serious health concern in the United States (U.S.) affecting as many as one in four children throughout their lifetime (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormond, & Hamby, 2013). In 2013, a reported 678, 932 victims of child maltreatment were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS), and of those cases 1,520 were fatal (CDC, 2015a). Out of all the various types of child maltreatment, Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is the leading cause of child abuse deaths in the U.S. (CDC, n.d.). While current research has focused on validating the effectiveness of educational interventions, very few studies have analyzed the efficacy of individualized, patient-centered action plans. Such data would be beneficial to assess the usefulness of action plans in preparing caregivers for coping with an inconsolable infant at home. Purpose: To enhance caregiver knowledge about SBS and to provide parents with the skills and resources necessary to cope effectively and efficiently at home when unable to console their infant. Methods: This study utilized a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design. Participants were recruited from the Franciscan Women’s Health Associates located at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington and were members of the Centering prenatal groups. The entirety of the study was completed during these groups including the pre-test, intervention, action plan, and post-test. Data was analyzed through the utilization of descriptive statistics as well as a paired t test. Results: Overall, results revealed that participant (n=26) knowledge significantly improved after the educational intervention (p=0.000) with a mean score of 87.56% on the pre-test and a mean score of 95.38% on the post-test. In addition, a majority of participants (57.5%) found both the action plan and the education to be extremely useful. Discussion: The results of this study were consistent with current evidence indicating that education on SBS, the dangers of shaking, and healthy coping mechanisms significantly impacts caregiver knowledge. In addition, a majority of participants viewed the action plans favorably identifying that they would be beneficial if they felt frustrated. Future research is warranted to gather more information on the long-term outcomes of educational interventions as well as individualized action plans.

Bakgrund: Idag är det många barn som i hemmet inte får tillräckligt god omvårdnad. För att få rätt stöd och hjälp behöver dessa barn komma till socialtjänstens kännedom. Dock förekommer en underrapportering från hälso- och sjukvårdens sida av barn som far illa, trots att en anmälningsplikt föreligger. Syfte: Att beskriva skolsköterskans upplevelse av processen att göra en anmälan till socialtjänsten vid misstanke om att barn far illa. Metod: Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ metod med en fenomenologisk ansats, där 13 skolsköterskor via e-post fick skriva ner sina berättelser. Datamaterialet analyserades med innebördsanalys. Resultat: Skolsköterskornas upplevelser i samband med en orosanmälan sammanställdes i fem teman; att bli känslomässigt berörd av barnets situation, att uppleva obehag i samband med en anmälan, att uppleva trygghet i samband med en anmälan, Att samverka med socialtjänsten påverkar samt att det fanns upplevelser av att hantera egna känslor i olika forum. Slutsats: Skolsköterskorna upplever att det finns komplexa omständigheter i samband med en orosanmälan. Resultatet visar därmed angelägenheten om att få ökad kunskap om detta för att antingen kunna förändra eller ytterligare förbättra arbetet med att göra en orosanmälan när barn far illa. / Background: Today, it is common that many children do not receive proper care in their own homes. In order to obtain proper support and help, the Social Welfare Services needs to be alerted as to the predicament of these children. Unfortunately, medical and health care personnel too often fail to report maltreatment, even though it is their obligation to do so. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe the experience of the school nurses in the process reporting child maltreatment. Method: The study was conducted using a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach, where 13 school nurses participated and shared their experiences via email correspondance. The data was analyzed by meaning analysis. Result: The experiences of the school nurses in connection with reporting suspicions of maltreatment were summarized into five different categories: experiencing emotional involvement in the child's situation, experiencing discomfort associated with reporting, experiencing a sense of security in the reporting process, experiencing that cooperation with Social Welfare Services has impact, and experiences of dealing with their own emotions in various forums. Conclusion: The school nurses experienced complex circumstances in connection with reporting suspicions of maltreatment. The result therefore shows the need for increased knowledge regarding this, in order to either change or further improve upon the work of reporting child maltreatment.

Every child has the right to be protected from abuse, violence and exploitation. Children in Bhutan today have rights by law not to be subject to physical abuse, yet UNICEF statistics show that over 64% of children have been physically abused at least once in their lives. There are four types of child maltreatment, physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. This study focuses on physical abuse. According to the Youth Development Fund of Bhutan there is a lack of knowledge to address child protection issues in the country. The aim was to investigate the radiographers experience and perceived responsibility when suspecting child abuse. A qualitative interview study with inductive approach was used to answer the study’s purpose. Five radiographers were interviewed at the national referral hospital in Thimphu. The result shows that there is a lack of knowledge about child abuse, but the radiographers are aware of their responsibility by law to report suspected cases of child abuse. The radiographers perceive that their responsibility lay in taking as good images as possible. The radiographers are doing their best with the resources available but that is not enough to protect the children against violence. / Varje barn har rätt att skyddas mot misshandel, våld och exploatering. Barn i Bhutan har idag rätt att inte utsättas för fysiskt våld men statistik från UNICEF visar att över 64% av barnen har utstått fysiskt våld minst en gång i livet. Det finns fyra typer av barnmisshandel, fysiskt våld, psykiskt våld, sexuella övergrepp och försummelse. Denna studie fokuserar på fysiskt våld. Enligt Bhutans ungdomsutvecklingsfond (YDF) finns brist på kunskap för att ta itu med barnsäkerhetsfrågor i landet. Syftet med studien är att undersöka radiografers erfarenheter och hur de uppfattat sitt ansvar vid misstänkta fall av barnmisshandel. En kvalitativ intervjustudie med en induktiv ansats användes för att besvara studiens syfte. Fem radiografer intervjuades på sjukhuset i Thimphu. Resultatet visar att kunskapen om barnmisshandel är bristfälliga men att radiograferna är väl medvetna om sin skyldighet enligt lag att rapportera misstänkta barnmisshandelsfall. Radiograferna uppfattar att deras ansvar ligger i att ta så bra bilder som möjligt. Radiograferna gör sitt bästa med de resurser som finns tillgängliga men det räcker inte för att skydda barnen från våld.

Investigações epidemiológicas apontam que as taxas de incidência e prevalência da negligência são as mais altas em vários países do mundo, bem como no Brasil. No nosso contexto, as investigações sobre o tema são raras e o conhecimento limitado. Buscando contribuir para uma melhor compreensão da negligência no contexto Brasileiro, o presente estudo teve como objetivo estudar a manifestação da negligência em casos notificados ao Conselho Tutelar, tentando apreender os mecanismos de produção subjacentes, de modo a se estabelecer parâmetros com vistas à avaliação dos casos. Para tal, utilizou-se proposições teóricas já estabelecidas pela literatura científica atinentes a critérios relacionados à manifestação do problema e aos mecanismos relacionados à sua produção. O delineamento metodológico foi o de Estudo de Casos Múltiplos, dentro de uma abordagem qualitativa de pesquisa. A coleta de dados ocorreu no contexto de vida das famílias, em um contexto de acompanhamento psicossocial, que teve a duração de 10 meses, utilizando-se de observação participante, entrevistas e utilização de instrumentos padronizados. No total, 12 famílias foram estudadas. As informações, coletadas por meio das diferentes estratégias, foram reagrupadas de modo a compor um conjunto único de dados, referente a cada caso. Buscou-se, então, verificar se as proposições teóricas fixadas a priori podiam ou não ser demonstradas em cada caso, para em seguida se efetuar análises de comparação, buscando-se por semelhanças e diferenças, no sentido de encontrar agrupamentos possíveis, com relação ao conceito de negligência empregado. Os resultados distinguiram três grupos. Um primeiro foi denominado \"Negligência Confirmada\", formado pelas famílias cujas informações coletadas preencheram a todos critérios pré-estabelecidos; um segundo, \"Em Risco de Negligência\", constituído pelas famílias cujas informações indicaram o não cumprimento aos critérios relativos à manifestação, mas os cumpriam no plano dos mecanismos de produção da problemática sinalizando, então, que a instalação da negligência estaria em curso; e um terceiro grupo, que foi chamado de \"Negligência Não Confirmada\", reuniu as famílias cujas informações não cumpriam, concomitantemente, a todos os critérios estabelecidos. Pode-se dizer que as crianças no grupo 1 foram àquelas que apresentavam a maior gama de necessidades não respondidas associadas a um grande número de conseqüências. Este grupo também se diferenciava dos outros, pelo isolamento social em que vivia a família e número reduzido de interações positivas entre cuidadores-crianças. No grupo 2, observou-se que significativos problemas de comportamento que as crianças apresentavam geravam reações dos diversos ambientes sociais (principalmente, na escola) e se tornavam uma fonte significativa de estresse na família, concorrendo para a diminuição das interações parento-filiais, com o incremento de punições corporais, além de produzir isolamento social das famílias. O grupo 3 se diferenciou pelo apoio social recebido, apontando para a importância crucial dessa variável, no sentido de darem conta das necessidades de desenvolvimento infantil, em meio a uma gama variada de adversidades. Os critérios utilizados para a avaliação dos casos, além de permitirem visualizar a complexidade do fenômeno, possibilitaram a identificação de suas diferentes manifestações. Futuras investigações, com diferentes amostras, podem ajudar na consolidação dos critérios de avaliação e confirmação de casos no contexto brasileiro. / Epidemiological investigations reveal that the incidence and prevalence rates of negligence are the highest in several countries in the world, as it is in Brazil. In our context, the investigations around the theme are rare and the knowledge is limited. Seeking to contribute to a better comprehension of negligence in the Brazilian context, the present study has the intention of analyzing the manifestation of negligence in cases notified to the protective service, trying to apprehend the underlying production mechanisms, so that it is possible to establish parameters concerning the evaluation of the cases. In order to do so, theoretical propositions were used which already established by scientific literature related to the criteria concerning the manifestation of the problem and the mechanisms associated to its production. The methodological framework was the Multiple Case Study, in a qualitative approach of research. A data gathering took place in the life background of the families, in a context of psychosocial attendance, which had a 10 month duration, making use of participating observation, interviews and the use of standardized instruments. Overall, 12 families were studied. The information collected by the different strategies was regrouped so that a single group of data was composed related to each case. It is, then, sought to verify if the theoretical propositions determined a priori could or not be demonstrated in each case, so that, next, an analysis of comparison could be made, seeking for similarities and differences, in the sense of finding possible groupings concerning the concept of negligence employed. The results sorted out three groups. The first one was named \"Confirmed Negligence\", formed by the families which collected information met all the pre-established criteria; a second one was named \"In Risk of Negligence\", formed by the families which information indicated the non accomplishment of the criteria relative to manifestation, but met those in the sphere of the production mechanisms of the problem, thus indicating that the onset of negligence is in its course; and a third group, called \"Non-confirmed Negligence\", assembled the families which information didn\'t meet, concomitantly, all the established criteria. It can be said that the children from group 1 were those who presented the greatest variety of needs that were not met associated to a great number of consequences. This group also differed from the others by the social isolation in which the family lived and by the reduced number of positive interactions between children and caretakers. In group 2, it could be observed that significative behavior problems presented by the children created reactions from the various social environments (especially school) and became a significative font of stress in the family, leading to the reduction of parent-child interactions, with the increase of corporal punishment, in addition to producing the social isolation of the families. Group 3 stood out for the social support received, pointing to the critical importance of this variable, in the sense of meeting the necessities of children development in a wide range of adversities. The criteria used for the evaluation of the cases not only allowed the complexity of the phenomena to be visualized, it also made the identification of its different manifestations possible. Future investigation, with different samples, can help to consolidate the criteria of evaluation and confirmation of the cases in the Brazilian context.

Sabe-se que o fenômeno dos maus-tratos se constitui em uma problemática complexa que envolve na sua etiologia vários fatores, sendo necessária a observação deste fenômeno por uma perspectiva multidimensional. A abordagem Ecológico-Sistêmica do desenvolvimento humano e o modelo teórico Transacional pressupõem, respectivamente, a existência de diversos contextos e variáveis de risco que se influenciam mutuamente para a produção dos maus-tratos. Dentro disto, numerosas pesquisas, principalmente no âmbito internacional, têm encontrado associação significativa entre a problemática dos maus-tratos e variáveis no nível ontogenético, no microssistema, e no exossistema, dispondo-se inclusive de um conhecimento quanto às especificidades referentes a cada tipo de maus-tratos em particular. Neste panorama, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo verificar se a associação entre determinados fatores de risco atinentes à figura do cuidador e os maus-tratos físicos seria encontrada na realidade brasileira. Vale destacar que os fatores priorizados no estudo referem-se a aspectos psicológicos, como a angústia, nível de estresse associado à função parental, nível de apoio social, estilo parental e histórico de maus-tratos na própria infância. Para tanto, comparou-se dois grupos de pais/cuidadores, sendo um notificado ao Conselho Tutelar devido a abusos físicos contra os filhos (Grupo Clínico) e outro sem histórico conhecido de abuso (Grupo de Comparação), ambos constituídos por trinta participantes (n=60), pareados entre si em características sócio-demográficas, como nível econômico e educacional, situação conjugal e número de filhos / crianças sob seus cuidados. O primeiro grupo foi recrutado a partir dos registros do Conselho Tutelar e o segundo foi composto por conveniência, a partir de indicações, na comunidade. Os instrumentos utilizados para a coleta de dados tiveram a função de avaliar um ou mais fatores de risco, sendo eles: o Child Abuse Potential Inventory CAP; o Índice de Estresse Parental ISP; o Inventário de Estilos Parentais IEP; o Questionário de Apoio Social - QAS e a Entrevista da História da Infância do Adulto. É necessário sublinhar que também foi utilizado um Questionário de Caracterização Sócio-demográfica, sendo que os dados coletados com este instrumento permitiam caracterizar os respondentes para proceder à equiparação dos grupos, mas também levantar algumas informações referentes a variáveis de risco no plano sócio-demográfico. Cada instrumento foi corrigido segundo seus próprios critérios, sendo que os dados obtidos puderam ser categorizados e comparados estatisticamente por meio do teste t de Student para amostras independentes ou Mann Whitney Rank Sum Test, quando necessário. Os dados obtidos com a História da Infância do Adulto foram, primeiramente, analisados descritivamente, por meio da obtenção de freqüências e porcentagens e, quando possível, utilizou-se o teste Qui-quadrado ou o teste Exato de Fisher, para também comparar estatisticamente os grupos, adotando-se como nível de significância p 0,05. Os resultados encontrados indicaram diferenças significativas (p< 0,05) entre os grupos para a maioria das dimensões que compõem a Escala de Abuso do CAP: angústia, rigidez, problemas com a criança e consigo e problemas com os outros, verificando-se um maior potencial de risco para os participantes do grupo clínico em relação ao grupo de comparação. Quanto ao ISP, os grupos apresentaram diferenças em relação à dimensão características da criança e no escore total, indicando que o grupo clínico vive mais estresse nas interações com a criança do que o grupo de comparação. No IEP os grupos se diferenciaram somente na dimensão monitoria positiva, denotando que o grupo clínico emprega com menos freqüência práticas positivas na educação dos filhos que o grupo de comparação. O QAS diferenciou os grupos nas dimensões de apoio afetivo, de interação social positiva e no escore total, apontando também que os participantes do grupo clínico se percebem com menos apoio social do que o grupo de comparação. A análise da História da Infância indicou que de forma geral, os adultos pertencentes ao grupo clínico viveram mais situações difíceis na infância que o grupo de comparação, sendo que estas, por vezes, se configuraram em situações de maus-tratos. Os grupos se diferenciaram também no que se refere a duas variáveis sócio-demográficas específicas: a idade do responsável por ocasião do nascimento do primeiro filho e o grau de satisfação com o bairro, denotando que os participantes do grupo clínico eram mais jovens que os do grupo de comparação por ocasião do nascimento do primeiro filho, tendo em média 19 anos, e que também eram mais insatisfeitos com o local de moradia que os do grupo de comparação. Os resultados permitem dizer que as variáveis que discriminam os dois grupos compõem indicadores de risco para os maus-tratos físicos em nosso contexto sócio-cultural, corroborando o que é apresentado na literatura científica, quanto aos fatores que reiteradamente têm se mostrado associados ao problema no âmbito internacional. Todos eles, tomados em separado ou conjuntamente, podem servir para orientar o desenvolvimento e a avaliação de programas de prevenção primária e/ou secundária, na comunidade. / Child maltreatment is a complex problem that involves in your etiology several factors, being necessary a multiform perspective to understand it. The Ecological-Systemic approach of human development and the Transactional theoretical model presuppose, respectively, the existence of several contexts and variables of risk that are influenced itself mutually for the production of the maltreatments. The present study aimed to establish whether exists or not association between certain risk factors relating to parents and physical abuse in Brazilian reality. The psychological aspects investigated were: distress, level of stress associated to the parental function, level of social support, parental style and historical of maltreatments in the own childhood. Two groups composed by thirty participants were compared (n=60): the first one was composed by parents who were reported to child protection agencies due to physical abuse against their children (Clinical Group) and the second one had no historical abuse (comparison group) composed by convenience form indications from the community. Both group were matched in social-demographics characteristics, as economic and educational level, conjugal situation and number of own children or children under its cares. The instruments used for data collection were: Child Abuse Potential Inventory CAP; the Parenting Stress Index ISP; the Inventário de Estilos Parentais IEP; the Questionário de Apoio Social QAS and the Entrevista da História da Infância do Adulto. Instruments were codified and statistical analyses were made to compare data from the two groups. Significance level was p 0,05. Results pointed out significant differences between the two groups for most of the dimensions from CAP Abuse Scale: distress, rigidity, problems with child and self, and problems from others. It was also verified a higher risk potential for physical abuse related to the participants of the clinical group. With regards to ISP, the groups presented differences related to the child\'s characteristic dimension and in its total score, pointing that clinical group has more stress during interactions with their children than comparison group. The IEP showed differences between groups only for the dimension of positive supervision, denoting that the clinical group uses less frequently positive practices in the children\'s education. QAS differentiated the groups in the dimensions of affective support, of positive social interaction and in the total score which means that clinical group has less social support than the comparison group. The analysis of the history of the Childhood indicated that in a general way, the adults belonging to the clinical group had lived more difficult situations than the comparison group. The two groups also differed in two specific social-demographic variables: the age of mother/father at the first child\'s birth and the satisfaction degree related to neighborhood, denoting that the participants of the clinical group were younger in the occasion of the first child\'s birth (median= 19 years old) and that they were also more unsatisfied with the home place. The results allow us to say that the variables that discriminate the two groups are indicators of risk for physical maltreatments in our social-cultural context. That corroborate with what is pointed in the scientific literature, with relation to factors that repeatedly have been showed associated to the problem of physical maltreatment in the international ambit. These results may help us, in Brazilian context, guiding the development and the evaluation of primary or secondary prevention programs in the community.