Famiglie italiane e immigrate: identificare fattori di rischio e di protezione nella valutazione delle competenze genitoriali

[Autom. eng. transl.] Child abuse is an important public health problem, threatening the psychophysical integrity of about 100,000 children in Italy. In order to better protect the growth rights of these children and encourage their good adaptation, it is important to identify early those who present a high risk of suffering abusive conduct. The assessment of the potential risk of maltreatment is particularly complex if immigrant families, often exposed to a more vulnerable condition, are examined. The objective of this research is to: a) evaluate the effectiveness of the Protocol on risk and protection factors (Di Blasio, 2005) in detecting the children most at risk in situations of family hardship reported to the Services; and b) to identify specific risk and protection profiles for Italian and immigrant families. To this end, the psychosocial records of 58 minors of Italian origin and 69 minors of foreign origin reported to the protection services were analyzed. The results show that the protocol allows discriminating low and high-risk families, regardless of the origin of the nuclei. The investigation of the prevalence of protocol factors also shows that Italian and foreign families differ with respect to specific risk and protection factors. The consequences in terms of public health are discussed in the light of the reference literature.