Young, poorly educated, single mothers from lower socioeconomic groups are commonly identified as being at high risk of engaging in physical abuse. However, the seemingly obvious relationship between adolescent parenting and child maltreatment is not clearly supported by previous empirical research. This study, based on an ecological framework,…

Administration of the Conflict Tactics Scales to 1,997 mothers found that risk factors included the mother's age at time of birth of the abused child, size of family, and minority group status. However, there was not a significant relationship when mother's age was measured at time of abuse. (Author/JDD)