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most serious acts of violence and postulated a connection with increased oppositionality in both of these age groups. It is unclear whether there is an onset of abuse at adolescence or whether it represents an ongoing pattern of violence (Farber and Joseph, 1985). More attention needs to be directed to age and gender, and their combination, in increasing or decreasing the vulnerability of children to maltreatment.

Child characteristics may play only a minor role in the initiation of child maltreatment, but they may be important in the maintenance or persistence of abusive relationships or the escalation of at-risk relationships (Ammerman, 1991; Wolfe, 1985). Child characteristics also may be important in reabuse or revictimization. Sexually abused children may develop or learn sexualized behaviors that put them at risk of continued abuse by the original and/or other perpetrators (Frederich, 1988). Similarly, they may engage in sexual intercourse at earlier ages and, if abused by a family member, be poor contraceptors and be more likely to engage in unprotected, high-risk sexual behaviors (Wyatt et al., in press). Toddlers who have been physically abused exhibit aggressive, provocative, and approach-avoidant behaviors with teachers and peers (George and Main, 1979; Main, 1983), characteristics associated with provoking irritability, rejection, aggression, and abuse in others. Indeed, abused children may have learned distorted interaction patterns so well that they evoke similar interactions from both their parents and other social contacts such as teachers (Sroufe, 1983; Dodge et al., 1990).

Factors that trigger child neglect also should be separated from factors that maintain this behavior, especially in the development of infants. In early periods of neglectful behavior, the child may exhibit stressful behaviors in the forms of feeding problems, irritability, or deficits in social responsiveness that place increased demands on the parent's caretaking duties (Powell and Low, 1983; Powell et al., 1987). In some cases, nutritional deprivation, combined with increased maternal detachment, results in nonorganic failure to thrive and sets into motion a "vicious cycle of cumulative psychological risk" (Drotar, 1992:121). Eventually, the parent may begin to perceive the child as quiet, sickly, or not very competent, perceptions that may not be shared by others who observe the child (Ayoub and Milner, 1985; Kotelchuck, 1982).

Child characteristics may be contributing factors rather than independent causes for abuse or neglect. Certain child characteristics, such as low birth weight, prematurity, or non-organic failure to thrive, represent targets for intervention if they are found to be associated with increased maltreatment after the effects of confounding variables have been controlled. However, other factors associated with parental behavior or parent-child interactions appear much more promising sites for intervention at this time.