Child abuse potential among mothers of substance-exposed and nonexposed infants and toddlers

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine whether there were differences in child abuse potential among mothers who were nonusers, drug users who accepted treatment, and drug users who rejected offers of treatment, over the first 2 years of their children's lives. METHOD: Participants were mothers of 140 infants, classified into Nonuser (n = 48), Treatment (n = 72), or Refuser (n = 20) groups. The Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory [Milner, J. S. 1980. The Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual. Webster, NC: Psytec Corporation] was administered when infants were 4, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. RESULTS: Results of mixed-model analyses of variances showed no group differences on CAP Inventory abuse scale scores. There were significant group differences in lie scale scores on the CAP Inventory, such that lie scale scores for the Nonuser group were significantly higher than lie scale scores for the Treatment group. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results support the position that low-income women with many risk factors in their lives are at high risk for potential child abuse, but that their drug use status and drug treatment status does not differentiate them from their nonuser peers from a similar social and demographic background.     

Inconsistent response patterns and the prediction of child maltreatment

Inconsistent response patterns have been used with other measures to screen for child maltreatment. To date the inconsistency (IC) scale, a validity scale on the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory, has not been used as a screening criterion for physical child abuse. The present study examined the responses of 89 physical child abusers and 108 comparison subjects to determine if the CAP Inventory IC scale has any utility in the screening for physical child abuse. While results indicated the CAP Inventory IC scale scores were significantly higher for the physical child abuse group, a series of discriminant analyses indicated that the IC scale did not account for any meaningful variance after variance related to child abuse factors was removed. Further, the results indicated that dependence on the IC scale alone for physical child abuse screening purposes could be expected to produce excessive false positive and false negative classifications.     

Childhood history of abuse and child abuse screening.

Although a childhood history of abuse is related to parental child abuse, many parents with a history of abuse are not abusive. To determine the effects of a childhood history of abuse on adult child abuse potential, a modified Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) and the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory were administered to matched groups of physically abusive mothers with a childhood history of abuse, nonabusive comparison mothers with a childhood history of abuse, and nonabusive comparison mothers without a childhood history of abuse. The modified CTS asked about childhood events and was used to confirm a childhood history of abuse. As expected, the CTS verbal and violence scales were higher for the abusive and nonabusive mothers with a childhood history of abuse. None of the CTS scores were different for the abusive and nonabusive mothers with a childhood history of abuse. In contrast, the CAP abuse scores distinguished between all three study groups. However, on the CAP factor scales, only the rigidity and unhappiness factors discriminated between abusive and nonabusive mothers with a childhood history of abuse. Nonabusive mothers with a childhood history of abuse were less rigid in their child expectations and were happier in their interpersonal relationships than abusive mothers with a childhood history of abuse.     

Psychosocial correlates of child abuse potential in multiply disadvantaged adolescent mothers

OBJECTIVE: This study had two aims: First to examine psychosocial correlates of child maltreatment risk, and second to assess the validity of the CAP Inventory (Milner, 1986) with multiply disadvantaged teenage mothers. METHOD: Participants were 75 adolescent mothers who were wards of the Illinois child protection system. Mothers (aged 14-18) and infants participated in home-based psychosocial assessment of personal and parenting functioning. Group comparisons examined differences for mothers with elevated versus normal versus invalid CAP scores due to faking good. RESULTS: Findings indicated that abuse risk groups differed on emotional distress, social support satisfaction, reading achievement, and years of education, but not on parenting beliefs or quality of child stimulation. Differences favored the normal over the elevated risk group in all significant comparisons, whereas mothers with elevated faking good differed from normals only in lower reading achievement. Multiple regression analysis highlighted emotional distress, support dissatisfaction, and low achievement as significant predictors of greater abuse risk. CONCLUSIONS: Despite sharing multiple disadvantages, adolescent wards are a heterogeneous group who show different levels of psychosocial functioning corresponding to levels of child maltreatment risk. The findings provide support for the concurrent validity and clinical applicability of the CAP Inventory with disadvantaged teenage mothers.     

Gender differences in empathy in parents at high- and low-risk of child physical abuse

OBJECTIVES: The present research was designed to study empathy in high-risk parents for child physical abuse. The main objective was to study if high-risk mothers and fathers, compared to low-risk mothers and fathers, presented more Personal distress, less Perspective-taking, less Empathic concern and a deficit in dispositional empathy toward their partner and children. METHOD: Based on their scores on the Abuse Scale of the CAP Inventory [J.S. Milner, The Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual, 2nd ed., Psytec Corporation, Webster, NC], 19 (9 fathers and 10 mothers) high- and 26 (12 fathers and 14 mothers) low-risk parents for child physical abuse were selected from a total sample of 331 parents of the Spanish general population. Both groups were statistically matched on sociodemographic variables. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) [Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology 10 (1980) 85] and the Parent/Partner Empathy Scale (PPES) [N.D. Feshbach, N. Caskey, A new scale for measuring parent empathy and partner empathy: factorial structure, correlates and clinical discrimination, 1985] were used to assess dispositional empathy. RESULTS: An interaction between risk status and gender for "Personal distress" and "Perspective-taking" was found. High-risk mothers for child physical abuse showed more "Personal distress" than low-risk mothers and low-risk fathers. High-risk fathers for child physical abuse showed less "Perspective-taking" than low-risk mothers and low-risk fathers. No difference between both groups was found for the IRI "Empathic concern" dimension. Moreover, high-risk, compared to low-risk, parents showed lower scores both on the "Empathy toward the partner" and on the "Empathy toward the child" dimensions of the PPES. No interaction between risk status and gender was found for the PPES dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of the present study supported the hypothesis that high-risk parents for child physical abuse show a deficit both in general empathy and in empathy toward their family members. Moreover, findings suggested the existence of a different pattern of deficits in empathy for high-risk fathers and high-risk mothers.     

Parents’ perception of child behavior,parenting stress,and child abuse potential: Individual and partner influences

Based on the Social Information Processing model of parenting risk for child abuse, the present study examined the associations between mothers’ and fathers’ perception of child behavior and child abuse potential, as well as whether parenting stress mediates the association between these constructs. Two hundred and fifty-nine mother-father couples raising preschool children answered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI). The results of dyadic path analysis showed that perception of child behavior was related to heightened parenting stress and abuse potential in both mothers and fathers. Concerning partner effects, we found that mothers’ perception of child behavior problems was positively associated with fathers’ parenting stress and that the higher the mothers’ distress, the higher the fathers’ risk of physical abuse. Finally, parenting distress partially mediated the association between parents’ perception of child behavior and child abuse potential, with mothers’ perception of their children as problematic showing a significant indirect effect through distress on their own abuse risk and on fathers’ CAP as well. These findings suggest that parental distress may represent a critical mechanism by which parents’ negative views of their children contribute to abuse potential. Moreover, mothers seem to influence fathers’ tendency towards abusive behaviors.     

Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential in adolescent mothers: a longitudinal study

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to determine whether adolescent mothers of newborns are at higher risk for child abuse than adult mothers of newborns and to examine whether adolescent mothers with memories of child maltreatment have a higher risk for child abuse. METHOD: Two groups (adolescents and adults) of pregnant mothers were followed for 20 months beginning between the 5th and the 7th month of pregnancy until the child was 18 months old. Adolescent (N = 24) and adult (N = 24) mothers were matched on sociodemographic variables. During pregnancy, memories of child maltreatment were evaluated. When child was 1, 6, 12, and 18 months old, risk for child abuse was evaluated. RESULTS: Adolescent and adult mothers showed no differences in memories of childhood physical or emotional abuse. Nevertheless, adolescent mothers showed higher child abuse potential and depression scores than adult mothers. Mothers with memories of severe physical punishment showed higher child abuse potential scores and mothers with memories of physical punishment producing physical damage showed higher child abuse potential and depression scores. A statistically significant age of the mother by physical punishment producing physical damage interaction was found for depression. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this longitudinal study indicated that the potential for abuse was significantly greater in adolescent mothers than in adult mothers, and in mothers who had been victims of physical abuse than in those who had not. It also appeared that, among adolescent mothers, those who had been victims of childhood physical abuse constitute a higher risk group for child physical abuse.     

Maternal Working Models of Attachment, Marital Adjustment, and the Parent-Child Relationship

This study examined the connection between maternal working models, marital adjustment, and the parent-child relationship. Subjects were 45 mothers who were observed in problem-solving interactions with their 16–62-month-old children ( M = 33 months). Mothers also completed the Attachment Q-set, the Adult Attachment Interview, and a marital adjustment scale. As predicted, maternal working models were related to the quality of mother-child interactions and child security, and there was a significant relation between marital adjustment and child security. Maternal working models and marital adjustment were also associated interactively with child behavior and child security. Among children of insecure mothers, child security scores were higher when mothers reported high (vs. low) marital adjustment. No relation between child security scores and mothers' marital adjustment was found among children of secure mothers. These results suggest that maternal working models influence parenting and child adjustment well beyond infancy, to which period the few existing studies of adult attachment have been restricted. The results also suggest that interactions between maternal working models and the marital adjustment on child behavior and attachment security need to be more closely examined.     

Gender differences in the risk for delinquency among youth exposed to family violence

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to illuminate gender differences in adolescent delinquency against a backdrop of childhood exposure to both marital violence and physical child abuse. Specifically, analyses were performed to trace the unique effects of exposure to either form of family violence (marital or child) on the violent and nonviolent delinquency of boys and girls. METHOD: This is a prospective study of 299 children who were interviewed with their mothers in 1991 about forms of abuse in the family. Approximately 5 years later a search of juvenile court records was performed for these same children. Details on the nature of the crimes were collected. Outcome variables included: (1) whether there was ever an arrest; and (2) whether there was ever an arrest for a violent crime. RESULTS: Preliminary analyses indicated no gender differences in overall referral rates to juvenile court, although boys were more likely than girls to be referred for property, felony, and violent offenses. Exposure to marital violence in childhood predicted referral to juvenile court. Girls with a history of physical child abuse were arrested for violent offenses more than boys with similar histories, but the context of violent offenses differed dramatically by gender: Nearly all referrals for a violent offense for girls were for domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS: Although boys and girls share similar family risk factors for delinquency, girls are more likely than boys to be arrested for violent offenses in the aftermath of child physical abuse. These findings suggest that it takes more severe abuse to prompt violence in girls than is necessary to explain boys' violent offending.     

Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: The role of parent's gender and timing of childhood abuse

It has been suggested that being physically abused leads to someone becoming a perpetrator of abuse which could be associated to parents’ gender, timing of the physical abuse and specific socio-demographic variables. This study aims to investigate the role the parents’ gender, timing of childhood abuse and socio-demographic variables on the relationship between parents’ history of childhood physical abuse and current risk for children. The sample consisted of 920 parents (414 fathers, 506 mothers) from the Portuguese National Representative Study of Psychosocial Context of Child Abuse and Neglect who completed the Childhood History Questionnaire and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. The results showed that fathers had lower current potential risk of becoming physical abuse perpetrators with their children than mothers although they did not differed in their physical victimization history. Moreover, the risk was higher in parents (both genders) with continuous history of victimization than in parents without victimization. Prediction models showed that for fathers and mothers separately similar socio-demographic variables (family income, number of children at home, employment status and marital status) predicted the potential risk of becoming physical abuses perpetrators. Nevertheless, the timing of victimization was different for fathers (before 13 years old) and mothers (after 13 years old). Then our study targets specific variables (timing of physical abuse, parents’ gender and specific socio-demographic variables), which may enable professionals to select groups of parents at greater need of participating in abuse prevention programs.     

Adaptation of the Multidimensional Trauma Recovery and Resilience (MTRR) questionnaire in a sample of Chilean mothers with a history of child abuse

OBJECTIVE: Adaptation of the Multidimensional Trauma Recovery and Resilience (MTRR) in a Chilean sample. METHOD: Participants were 80 mothers drawn from two large metropolitan areas (Santiago and Temuco). Sample participants (in a case control design) were redivided in two groups: 40 mothers identified as physical abusers with history of physical child abuse and 40 mothers identified as nonabusers with history of physical child abuse. Groups were matched on 5 sociodemographic variables. Reliability analysis, item analysis, and group comparisons on the 8 scales of the instrument were performed. RESULTS: Interrater agreement level was .79 (Kendall's W coefficient) and the internal consistency as measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .75. Twenty-five items (26.3%) significantly discriminated between the groups. Group comparison tests (Wilcoxon Rank-sum Test) also indicated that six of the eight domains discriminated between the groups. CONCLUSION: In our sample, the instrument has reliable results which discriminate between the studied groups. These preliminary findings support future work toward the development of a Chilean version of this instrument.     

A Test of the Parenting Alliance Theory

Parenting alliance is assumed to be the key element in the marital relationship accounting for the sometimes-found covariation of marital adjustment and child behavior problems. This study examined the core tenet of the parenting alliance theory using the newly developed Parenting Alliance Inventory (PAI). The sample consisted of 53 mothers of children between the ages 2 and 15 seen at a pediatric outpatient clinic. Scores from the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) were correlated with both the Marital Adjustment Test (MAT) and the PAI in order to test the hypothesis that the relationship of child behavior problems with the parenting alliance is stronger than with general marital adjustment. Results showed a significant and moderate negative correlation between the PAI and the ECBI, even when controlling for the influence of the MAT, versus a nonsignificant, negligible correlation between the MAT and the ECBI. Results support the construct validity and utility of the PA1 as a concise measure of parenting alliance.     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory: results based on a sample of Chinese mothers in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether or not the original six-factor structure of the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory suggested by [Milner, J.S. (1986). The Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual (2nd ed.). DeKalb, IL: Psytec. Inc.] can be confirmed with data from a group of Chinese mothers in Hong Kong. METHOD: Eight hundred and ninety-seven mothers from 13 child care centers in Hong Kong successfully completed a set of structured questionnaires consisting, among others, of the 77-item Abuse Scale of the CAP Inventory. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to determine whether the data fits the factorial structure of the CAP Inventory identified by Milner (1986). RESULTS: The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of the model epsilona) is 0.031, indicating a close fit of the model in relation to the degrees of freedom. On testing the close fit against the null hypothesis that Ho: epsilona相似文献   

Dynamic prediction characteristics of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory

OBJECTIVES: Risk measures are commonly used to evaluate outcomes in child abuse prevention and intervention programs. This study examined whether pre-intervention to post-intervention changes on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) Abuse Scale corresponded to actual changes in risk for future reports of maltreatment and evaluated the validity of several algorithms for classifying clinically significant change. METHOD: Participants in the study were 459 parents participating in any one of 27 community-based family preservation and family support programs. Most parents were low-income mothers with a variety of social risk indicators, about a third of whom would be classified as high-risk by the CAP Abuse Scale. Participants were administered the CAP at program enrollment, then at completion of the intervention (median time=150 days), then followed for an average of approximately 2 years for future official maltreatment reports. Dynamic predictive validity of the CAP Abuse Scale was modeled by comparing survival models using a time-dependent structure of pre- and post-intervention scores to identically structured models using only a pre-intervention score. RESULTS: Pre-intervention CAP Abuse Scale scores demonstrated incremental future predictive validity. However, score changes failed to correspond to changes in likelihood of future abuse. Models using pre-intervention scores only were more predictive than time-dependent score models, and pre-intervention scores were better predictors than post-intervention scores of post-intervention CPS referrals. Common algorithms for classifying clinically significant change yielded results that could be counter-intuitive and misleading. For example, participants classified as improved on these algorithms were actually at similar or even higher risk than those classified as unchanged or worse. CONCLUSIONS: The results strongly supported the static predictive validity of the CAP and the use of the CAP for screening purposes. The results did not support the dynamic predictive validity of the CAP. Results of exploratory analyses suggested the possibility that the changes observed on the CAP Abuse Scale reflected changes in subscales assessing subjective distress or parenting attitudes, which may be markers for initial risk but when changed, do not necessarily translate into actual changes in future maltreatment behavior. Although replication and extension are needed before drawing firm conclusions, the current study raises questions about the common practice of using risk instruments as proxy measures for child maltreatment risk in intervention and prevention programs.     

Is the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAPI) a valid measure of child abuse potential among mothers and fathers of young children in Germany?

BackgroundIn order to prevent child abuse, instruments measuring child abuse potential (CAP) need to be appropriate, reliable and valid.ObjectiveThis study aimed to confirm the 6-factor structure of the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAPI) in a German sample of mothers and fathers, and to examine longitudinal predictors of CAP.Participants and settingTwo waves of data were collected from 197 mothers and 191 fathers of children aged 10–21 months for the “Kinder in Deutschland – KiD 0–3” in-depth study. Families were stratified based on prior self-report data for screening purposes.Methods138 fathers and 147 mothers were included in the analysis (invalid: 25% mothers, 30% fathers). First, validity of reporting was examined. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to assess factor structure. Third, internal reliability and criterion validity were examined. Finally, multivariate poisson regressions investigated longitudinal predictors of CAP in mothers.ResultsA previously established six-factor structure was confirmed for mothers but not fathers. CFA failed for fathers due to large numbers of variables with zero variance. For mothers, internal consistency and criterion validity were good. BCAPI score at follow-up was associated with baseline BCAPI score (β = 00.08), stress (β = 0.06), education (β=-0.19) and alcohol use (β = .58).ConclusionsFindings confirm the six-factor structure of the BCAPI among German mothers. The clinical use of the BCAPI in fathers is not recommended as it might produce data that are hard to interpret. Further research with fathers is needed to establish if this is due to limitations with this dataset or with the questionnaire.     

Behavioral and Contextual Manifestations of Parenting Stress in Mother-Child Dyads

Extensive data from mother-child interaction in the laboratory, teacher reports of child behavior problems in the preschool and maternal reports of child behavior problems, marital satisfaction, depression, social insularity, and other contextual risk factors were used to (1) describe the behavioral and contextual manifestations of parenting stress, (2) empirically investigate different cutoff points using the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1990), and (3) validate a new French translation of the PSI Groups of mothers were formed on the basis of PSI percentile scores using cutoffs of 90% (Very High), 80-90% (High), 20-80% (Average) and 0-20% (Low) in order to determine the levels of parenting stress associated with the various risk factors assessed. Base rates and conditional probabilities were calculated to assess the extent to which mother and child responded contingently to each other's behaviors and affect during a problem-solving task . Results showed that (1) maternal behavior was more associated with total parenting stress than child behavior. (2) parenting stress was clearly associated with child's behavior problems in the home and classroom; (3) parenting stress was consistently associated with other risk factors; and (4) very highly stressed mothers appeared to be at significantly greater risk than high stressed mothers in terms of their social adaptation and emotional well being, as well as that of their preschool children.     

The relative importance of wife abuse as a risk factor for violence against children

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relative importance of wife abuse as a risk factor for physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal child abuse. The study explored the importance of wife abuse relative to blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics and also relative to specific risk factors. METHOD: This study re-analyzed a sub-sample (N = 2,733) of data from the 1985 National Family Violence Survey. Hierarchical logistic regressions were conducted, using five different criterion variables measuring physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal abuse separately and in combination. RESULTS: Blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics were more important predictors of violence towards children than was wife abuse, though the presence of wife abuse in the home was a consistently significant specific risk factor for all forms of violence against children. Of specific risk factors, a respondent's history of having been hit as an adolescent was a larger risk factor for physical child abuse than was wife abuse. Wife abuse was an important predictor of physical punishment. Non-violent marital discord was a greater factor in predicting likelihood of verbal child abuse than was wife abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Though this study confirms the association between wife abuse and violence towards children, it cautions us not to overlook the contribution of other factors in our attempts to understand the increased risk attributed to wife abuse.     

Economic stress, parenting, and child adjustment in Mexican American and European American families

To assess the impact of economic hardship on 111 European American and 167 Mexican American families and their 5th-grade (M age=11.4 years) children, a family stress model was evaluated. Structural equation analyses revealed that economic hardship was linked to indexes of economic pressure that were related to depressive symptoms for mothers and fathers of both ethnicities. Depressive symptoms were linked to marital problems and hostile parenting. Paternal hostile parenting was related to child adjustment problems for European Americans, whereas marital problems were linked to child adjustment problems for Mexican Americans. Maternal acculturation was associated with both higher marital problems and lower hostile parenting. The utility of the model for describing the effects of economic hardship in Mexican Americans is noted.