Analysis Of A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer

In A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer describes the abuse he suffered from his mother as a child. David was one of the estimated 1 in 58 children in the United States that experiences some form of maltreatment. Over half of these cases are child neglect (Freisthler, Johnson-Motoyama, & Kepple, 2014). According to Spinetta and Rigler, 1972, there is a correlation between child abuse and unstable parental relationships. In A Child Called It, Dave’s mother had an unsteady relationship with his father, and many nights often culminated in fights. By the end of the book, the father left his family. Child abuse has severe negative psychological effects on children including depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, feelings of guilt, and low self-esteem (Katz …show more content…
The literature demonstrates that it is perceived social support, despite the actual strength of the support, that can reduce stress and improve well-being. Although David’s dad wasn’t as strong of a support as one would expect in that situation (i.e. he often gave up during fights with his wife and she continued to abuse David), it was David’s perception of having a strong support behind him that improved his mental and physical health. Consistent with these findings, a study has shown that perceived social support had a mitigating effect on trauma symptoms, with diminished effects for more severe trauma (Evans, Steel, & DiLillo, 2013). According to Horan and Widom, 2015, long-term allostatic load can be influenced by the amount of social support a maltreated child received. This study found that perceived social support partially attenuated allostatic load even into middle adulthood. These findings suggest that a perceived lack of social support throughout development may influence future health risks. These findings all suggest that as David perceived his father as a social support, regardless of actual received support, he had reduced health risks. …show more content…
When he was younger and received more support, he relied primarily on avoidant coping. Avoidant coping in cases of child abuse is linked with high social support and a buffer to stress responses, it is good short term but can lead to long-term problems. As his perceived social support from his father lessened, David began to internalize. A lack of social support and negative peer reactions lead to greater amounts of internalized coping (Chaffin, Wherry, & Dykman, 1997). Throughout the book, David mentions both of his parents heavily drinking alcohol. Parental alcohol abuse is correlated with increased child maltreatment and supervisory neglect, specifically, leaving a child in a place of unknown safety (Freisthler, Johnson-Motoyama, & Kepple, 2014). David’s father leaving him in the house with his mother, who regularly abused him demonstrates a form of supervisory neglect. As David’s father became increasingly absent, his mother was left with the challenge of raising five boys on her own. Research has shown that rates of child maltreatment are substantially higher in single-parent homes (Gelles, 1989). David’s mother is also described as having no social contacts. According to Thompson, 2015, parents who lack social outlets, or are socially isolated, are at an increased risk of potentially being abusive towards