This study begins with an examination of why men have been left out of physical child abuse research. An attempt is then made to include them by focusing on the motivational processes and social structures that differentiate men's physical child abuse from women's. It is argued that widespread gender imbalances in power, men's lack of role models and rewards for nurturant activity, and their socialization to violence, bear a direct relationship to children's risk of physical abuse. The methodological problems involved in accurately comparing male and female caregivers' rates of physical child abuse are discussed and a strategy for assessing these gender differences is introduced.
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