Answer to Question 1
In a dynamic process, parental and situational factors interact over time to either increase or decrease the risk of physical abuse or neglect (MacKenzie, Kotch, & Lee, 2011). Figure 12.3 depicts this dynamic process in relation to three hypothetical transitional stages. These stages suggest that maladaptive interaction patterns, like adaptive ones, do not develop simply because of the predilections of the parent or child. On the contrary, these patterns are the result of complex interactions between child characteristics, parental personality and style, the history of the parentchild relationship, and the supportive or nonsupportive nature of the broader social context within which the family is embedded (Wolfe, 1999). This process, moreover, includes both destabilizing and compensatory factors that can influence the likelihood of abuse or neglect in a negative or positive fashion, respectively.
Answer to Question 2
Traumatic events are defined as exposure to actual or threatened harm or fear of death or injury and are considered uncommon or extreme stressors. Such terrifying or life-threatening events are wide-ranging. They include careless or intentional acts such as physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and exposure to domestic and community violence, as well as unintended medical traumas, accidents, natural disasters, war, terrorism, refugee trauma, and traumatic loss (Gerson & Rappaport, 2013).