Teachers' recognition and reporting of child abuse

Help for abused children, abusive parents and families depends upon early recognition and reporting of the problem. This research employs an experimental design using vignettes (brief descriptions of potential abuse) to manipulate the affect of parents' socioeconomic status, ethnic status and the child's level of injury on teachers' recognition and reporting of abuse. Results for teachers are compared to the authors' previous research on nurses' and physicians' judgments. Results indicate that, while all three professional groups responded to the child's level of injury, physicians' judgments were affected by parents' socioeconomic status and ethnic status, but teachers' and nurses' judgments were not affected by these variables. The signs of abuse and causal notions employed by the three groups also are compared. Implications for the teachers' role in recognition and reporting of child abuse are discussed.