The conceptions of how child maltreatment originates and is maintained as an enduring and destructive social phenomenon have been debated in theory and research for many years. The conception of child abuse, though it has changed over time has been irreconcilably changed by psychology and more specifically psychological theory. Probably the two most altering of theories, as they are applied to child maltreatment and its perpetuation are ecology theory and social learning theory. The basic tenants of ecology theory as it is applied to child maltreatment is four levels of ecology can be used to explain why some parents maltreat their children: the ontogeny or basic development of the perpetrator, the family, community and society in which he or she was embedded. (Belsky, 1980, pp.320-335) Social learning theory proposes that child maltreatment is an aspect of observational learning, where children observe aggressive behaviors and such behaviors become an unconscious drive to future behavior. (Bandura, 1973, p. 27) Both theories to some degree attest that childhood observation and treatment determine future actions and that adults who were maltreated as children will be more likely than other adults to maltreat children in their own care.
             This work will explore these two seminal theories as they apply to child maltreatment. The work will first develop a concept of how each theory applies to the origins and maintenance of child maltreatment. It will then go on to discuss each theory in critical analysis, an in application to child maltreatment. A comparison and contrast of the two theories will follow and to close the work will provide a summary of empirical evidence that supports or detracts from each theory, as it applies to child maltreatment.
             Origins and Maintenance of Child Maltreatment
             The concepts of child maltreatment ebb and flow with the political social and cultural tide, as definitions of what is acceptable and what...