Child maltreatment and attachment theory

Abstract

The study of child maltreatment has grown exponentially in the years since the identification of the "battered child syndrome" (Kempe, Silverman, and Steele, 1962). In that time the area has experienced many of the conflicts and missteps to be expected in an emerging field. Underlying these problems is the lack of a single, comprehensive theoretical approach to child maltreatment (Newberger, Newberger, and Hampton, 1983). It is the purpose of this chapter to examine attachment theory in regard to its adequacy in accounting for the existing data on child abuse and child neglect.