Unraveling child abuse.

This paper attempts to clarify the dynamics of child abuse, and to suggest approaches to primary prevention. Child abuse is redefined, within egalitarian value premises, as inflicted gaps in children's circumstances that prevent actualization of inherent potential. Levels of manifestation and causal dimensions of child abuse are identified, and their multiple interactions are traced. Primary prevention is shown to be essentially a political, rather than a purely technical or professional, issue.