Children of Abuse and Neglect
This chapter gives a brief background to the topic, overviewing the historical context, definitions, prevalence, assessment methods, and risk factors that can contribute to child maltreatment. It then focuses on child abuse and neglect in the context of emotion regulation, reviewing how abuse and neglect can lead to the development of emotion regulation problems, through processes of caregiver socialisation and neurobiological changes, and how these emotion regulation difficulties may manifest in abused children. The chapter goes on to discuss how the psychological and social problems associated with child abuse are associated with maladaptive emotion regulation capacities, and the processes by which emotion regulation can heighten the risk of continued abuse and exacerbate negative outcomes and psychopathology. Finally, this chapter assesses how emotion regulation has become an important target of clinical interventions for maltreated children.