Peer-reviewed article
THE SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL MODEL OF RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS IN VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
Boro Merdović, Biljana Jovanović ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This literature review examines risk and protective factors in violence against children using a socio-ecological model framework. The model explains how individual, family, community, and structural factors interact to contribute to child maltreatment. The paper argues that violence against children results from interactions between multiple systems rather than from individual characteristics alone. It emphasizes the importance of community and societal factors in shaping a child's environment and in developing prevention measures.
Key points
- Violence against children affects all aspects of their lives and influences functioning in later developmental stages
- The socio-ecological model provides a multidimensional framework analyzing individual, family, community, and structural factors
- Violence against children is an outcome of interactions between multiple systems, not merely individual characteristics
- Risk and protective factors at community and societal levels are crucial for developing effective prevention measures
- Community and societal factors play a significant role in shaping a child's environment
Limitations
This is a literature review without original empirical data collection. It does not test specific interventions or provide quantitative evidence of the effectiveness of prevention strategies.
Abstract
Protecting children from abuse and neglect is one of the fundamental principles of every society. Any form of violence against children leads to numerous consequences that affect all aspects of their lives and influence their functioning in later developmental stages. The aim of this paper is to provide a literature review explaining the risk and protective factors of violence against children, with a particular focus on the socioecological model. This model offers a multidimensional framework for understanding child abuse by analyzing how individual, family, community, and structural factors contribute to the risk of maltreatment. It emphasizes that violence against children is not merely the result of individual characteristics of parents or children but rather the outcome of interactions between multiple systems in which the child grows up. The model particularly highlights the importance of examining community and societal factors in shaping a child's environment. Through document analysis, comparative methods, induction and deduction, historical analysis, and synthesis, this paper presents research findings demonstrating the significance and interconnection of these factors. The results indicate that risk and protective factors at the community and societal levels play a crucial role in developing effective measures for the prevention of violence against children.