ABSTRACT
The history of childhood literature documents that while conditions may be horrendous for some children today, they were far worse in the past for greater numbers of children. Children must be helped to realize that adults are totally responsible for their own behavior and that the relationship between an adult and a child is never equal. Ignorance, apathy, or misinformation relative to the nutritional needs of infants, young children, and adolescents and how those needs change as we grow and develop may be another dimension of this set of variables. Child care is a major source of tension in dual career families that could possibly be reduced if our society would make a commitment to provide high quality, low cost, day care. Marital problems are another category of stress factors that seems to be strongly implicated in child maltreatment and therefore should be closely assessed and an appropriate treatment plan constructed.
