health

The basic cause of child abuse and neglect is inadequate parenting. Parents
can become abusive or neglectful toward their children for a number
of different reasons:

• They were abused themselves as children and do not see abusive
  attitudes and behaviors as abnormal.
  
• They suffer from mental illness.
• They lack information about the timetable of normal development
  in children. For example, they may think that a baby should be
  toilet-trained at three months of age and they become angry when
  the baby “fails.”
  
• They belong to a culture that emphasizes harsh physical discipline
  as the way to rear children.
• They lack impulse control.
  
• They abuse drugs or alcohol.

The signs or symptoms of child abuse or neglect vary from child to
child, but the following are typical:

• Physical abuse: The child has frequent and unexplained bruises,
  broken bones, burns, black eyes, or scars; does not want to go
  home from school; shrinks away from adults; seems frightened of
  his or her parents.
  
• Emotional abuse: The child seems either too mature or too
  childish for his or her age; is delayed in emotional development;
  is either extremely submissive or extremely aggressive toward other
  children; is not emotionally attached to the parents; has attempted
  suicide.
• Sexual abuse: The child has sudden changes in appetite, nightmares,
  or bedwetting; is diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease;
  knows about or describes sexual behavior in an adult way; has
  difficulty walking or sitting; does not want to change clothes for or
  participate in gym class.
  
• Neglect: The child begs or steals food; is frequently dirty or has
  severe body odor; does not have clothes suitable for the weather;
  says that there is no one home to give car