The social construction of child abuse.

Research on child abuse has traditionally focused on incidence, causes, and prevention and treatment. One facet overlooked is that abuse is social deviance, and is the product of social labeling. Employing the perspective of labeling theory, this paper proposes that causes of abuse are products of social definitions applied by gatekeepers charged with identifying children injured by their caretakers. Gaps in our knowledge of child abuse are pointed out, and suggestions for empirical research are offered.