Negative views tied to child maltreatment

NEW YORK, Apr 19: Mothers-to-be who believe infants dirty their diapers to bother their parents or purposefully ignore their mothers may be more likely to abuse or neglect their young children, a new study suggests. US researchers found that 8 percent of about 500 babies born in a small Southeastern city had at least one alleged or substantiated child abuse or neglect case on record. But that grew to 15 percent of infants born to women who scored the highest on a measure of ‘hostile attributions’ during pregnancy. (agencies)