SES and ethnicity had little effect on nurse and social worker reporting or recognition, while physicians were likely to overreport low SES and black cases and underreport white and upper SES cases. All three groups showed increased recognition and reporting with increasing severity of injury. Teachers' and deputy sheriffs' recognition and reporting were not influenced by SES, ethnicity, or injury severity. Similar results were found for students, but severity influenced recognition of abuse. All groups emphasized physical signs as the major indicators of abuse. For doctors, family background and history, family problems, and care of the child were less frequently mentioned indicators. Nurses also mentioned these factors, but also cited behavioral cues such as parent-child interaction and child behavior. For teachers, behavioral indicators were viewed as almost as important as physical signs. Physicians made few requests for additional information, in contrast to teachers, social workers, and deputy sheriffs, who requested substantial additional information. Both social workers and sheriffs favored interviewing everyone with knowledge of the child, family, and incident. 5 tables and 24 references.