A profile of abuse

SUMMARY Of 260 children considered to have been the victims of child abuse or neglect, or both, 149 suffered non-accidental injury, 71 had evidence of growth problems, 87 had developmental and speech delay, and 63 showed evidence of appreciable behaviour disturbance. While the overall prevalence of development and behaviour problems in the series was high there were particular associations noted between growth problems and developmental delay, between increasing age and behaviour disturbance, and between evidence of emotional deprivation and both behaviour disturbance and developmental delay. Children with non-accidental injury but without growth problems or emotional deprivation were least likely to show behaviour or developmental problems. The features associated with child abuse and neglect can be classified according to whether they describe factors that cause the abuse (primary) or its conse-quences. Thus primary factors (causative) such as parental violence, sexual deviance, or lack of attention lead to understimulation and emotiona