児童虐待とスティグマ-被虐待経験後の相互作用過程に関する事例研究-  [in Japanese] Child Abuse and Social Stigma: A Case Study on the Post Abuse Interactional Process  [in Japanese]

Much of the discussion on child abuse is influenced by the medical and psychological perspectives. Child abuse, however, is also a sociological issue. The purpose of this study is, by approaching the life-world of abused children, to consider the stigmatization and psychological damage that is brought on by the stigmatization. For children, and especially for abused children, experiences in the family of orientation have very significant meanings. When we think of the experience of abuse through a sociological perspective, we find there are important points in how the abused interprets his/her experiences in the family, from which we can discover the possibility of the stigmatization. The first section is an introduction, from a sociological perspective, to the problem of child abuse. The second, which is a review of earlier literature discussing the relationship between child abuse and stigma, forms the overall perspective for this study. The concept of stigma is also reviewed. In the third, three cases of abuse are analyzed from the viewpoint of social interactionism. The data obtained from the cases is summarized in the fourth section, and the implications of this study are discussed in the last. Oral life histories of abused children explain how stigmatization occurs and how the psychological damage is created (and occasionally reduced) through interactions with others under the norm of family affection. This research may be quite significant as psychological damage is usually discussed within the medical and psychological perspectives, but not dealt with from the basis of social stigmatization.