CAUSES OF CHILD ABUSE: A REEXAMINATION

Research and clinical studies have identified a variety of critical factors that precipitate incidents of child abuse. The authors studied the psychological and sociological variables most often identified in the literature to begin the development of a workable etiology of child abuse, which will contribute to the better training of child protection workers. Only during the past twenty years has the problem of child abuse become a subject of much public interest. Not until 1962 was child abuse acknowl-edged as a medical problem and research on its causes begun. 1 Despite a multitude of ensuing studies, no consensus on the etiology of child abuse has emerged, an