New Study: What Family Structure Prevents Child Abuse? - Maggie Gallagher
The Corner on National Review Online
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTMyNzU3MjEyZDEwMzJiNDQ3YzMyMjc3ZDUwMmYyMGQ=
That doesn't surprise me at all. After all, those are the people with the biggest investment in their children, genetically and in every other way. While there may be some very good, loving people comprising other family structures who provide wonderful homes for children, I would expect there to be more examples of abusive homes among those alternative family structures than among intact, never-broken families headed by the biological parents of the children. The highest incidence of abuse, even murder, of children by caretakers is found among foster homes, homes headed by a step-parent, and others headed by persons other than the biological parents of the children.
That's the rule among other mammals where the family unit includes males as well as females, as well. If the adult male in a pride of lions is killed or driven off by another male lion, the newcomer will kill his predecessor's cubs, and his own cubs will be the only ones to reach reproductive maturity, giving him a strong genetic edge over his rivals. Similar behaviors are found among gorillas, bears, and many other mammalian predators. As for mammalian browsers, such as the ungulates, in many cases adult males in a group will drive away the offspring of other males, depriving them of the protection and reproductive advantages of the group, thus giving their own offspring a strong edge on survival. In that way, we aren't much different from other creatures.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTMyNzU3MjEyZDEwMzJiNDQ3YzMyMjc3ZDUwMmYyMGQ=
That doesn't surprise me at all. After all, those are the people with the biggest investment in their children, genetically and in every other way. While there may be some very good, loving people comprising other family structures who provide wonderful homes for children, I would expect there to be more examples of abusive homes among those alternative family structures than among intact, never-broken families headed by the biological parents of the children. The highest incidence of abuse, even murder, of children by caretakers is found among foster homes, homes headed by a step-parent, and others headed by persons other than the biological parents of the children.
That's the rule among other mammals where the family unit includes males as well as females, as well. If the adult male in a pride of lions is killed or driven off by another male lion, the newcomer will kill his predecessor's cubs, and his own cubs will be the only ones to reach reproductive maturity, giving him a strong genetic edge over his rivals. Similar behaviors are found among gorillas, bears, and many other mammalian predators. As for mammalian browsers, such as the ungulates, in many cases adult males in a group will drive away the offspring of other males, depriving them of the protection and reproductive advantages of the group, thus giving their own offspring a strong edge on survival. In that way, we aren't much different from other creatures.