Recognizing a child at increased risk of abuse.

Data from two studies are presented. Both highlight characteristics which help identify children at increased risk of child abuse. The first study demonstrates that the abused child when compared with unharmed children in the same family is more likely to have been the product of an abnormal pregnancy, labor, delivery and neonatal period. He is more likely to have been separated from his mother and to have been ill in the first year of life. His mother too is more likely to have been sick during that year. The second study shows that it is possible to identify 'at risk' families around the time the baby is born. When compared with controls, five factors are more common: mother aged under 20 at birth of first child, evidence of emotional disturbance, referral to the social worker, admission of baby to special care nursery, and early concern over mothering.