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The British Journal of Psychiatry (1974) 125: 568-582. doi: 10.1192/bjp.125.6.568
© 1974 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Social Aspects of the Battered Baby Syndrome

SELWYN M. SMITH M.B., B.S., M.R.C.Psych.1, RUTH HANSON B.A.2, and SHEILA NOBLE M.A.2

1 Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Birmingham Department of Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TH
2 Senior Research Associate, University of Birmingham Department of Psychiatry, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TH

A controlled investigation of 214 parents of battered babies shows that pre-marital pregnancy and illegitimacy, absence of the child's father, marital disharmony and rejecting attitude towards the child are precursors of baby battering. Battered babies are likely to be reared in broken homes and are at risk of social maldevelopment and death. Ineffectiveness and distrust of contraception by these parents suggests that various birth control measures are unlikely to be effective in reducing the prevalence of battered babies.

Battering parents compare reasonably with other low social class groups, in their standards of income, and weekly food expenditure. Housing is in some respects worse. Improvement in material benefits without regard to the parents' personality deficiencies is therefore unlikely to affect the increase in the number of battered babies. Social isolation is a characteristic of these parents and reflects their unhappy childhood. Lack of kinship support was particularly important among the non-White parents. Treatment can be supportive only, and true prevention must lie in effective education of the next generation and in possible changes in the law relating to child care.

Submitted on March 4, 1974




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Copyright © 1974 The Royal College of Psychiatrists.