Psychologic aspects of the maltreatment syndrome of childhood

The maltreatment syndrome of childhood is an entity characterized by typical but variable clinical features which have received extensive review in the recent medical literature. The purpose of the present investigation is to explore some of the psychologic variants operative in parents of abused children and to focus on the etiologic factors which may precipitate an episode of maltreatment. The military population from which these twelve cases are presented provides a unique opportunity to study family interplay in a rather homogenous sociocultural structure.