ABSTRACT
Like all of the Latin American/Hispanic countries, as well as several of the other countries discussed in this book, family patterns and interactions in Nicaragua have been influenced by a history of colonization and exploitation by other countries. High poverty and unemployment, in a patriarchal culture where machismo and traditional gender roles prevail, put great stress on family relationships. Children are at great risk-from violence, from severe treatment in the penal system, from the necessity to engage in child labor. Abandonment seems to be one of the most likely forms of maltreatment.
