Perpetrator gender and type of child maltreatment: overcoming limited conceptualizations and obtaining representative samples.

A lack of sensitive differentiation across the types of child maltreatment and lack of attention to differences due to perpetrator gender are serious shortcomings in child maltreatment perpetration research. Findings about perpetration may be confounded and of questionable validity as a result. Certain conceptual and methodological difficulties lie at the root of this lack of sensitivity and lead to inadequate research designs and sampling procedures. These difficulties are discussed in this article, with corrective recommendations and an example of a new approach that will enhance sensitivity to the effects of both perpetrator gender and types of maltreatment.