Psychosocial aspects of child abuse for primary care pediatricians

Childhood is an image that advertisers use to conjure up feelings of care-free innocence. Society frequently calls for protecting our children and creating strong, healthy families. Yet thousands of children experience violence on a regular basis, and their lives are irretrievably altered. For these children, the sites of violence and not war-torn villages or crime-ridden streets but their own homes. This article provides primary care physicians with basic information about the psychosocial aspects of recognition and prevention of child abuse.