Childhood Physical Abuse, Childhood Social Support, and Adult Child Abuse Potential

Abstract

The childhood experience of physical abuse is believed to be associated with parental child abuse. However, not all parents with a childhood history of abuse are abusive, indicating that factors such as social support may buffer the effects of childhood abuse. To examine the role of social support in the discrimination of physical child abusers and nonabusers, the Childhood Social Network Questionnaire (CSNQ) and the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory were given to matched groups of physical child abusers with a childhood history of physical abuse, nonabusers with a childhood history of physical abuse, and nonabusers without a childhood history of physical abuse. Overall, CSNQ factors and the CAP abuse scale each distinguished between physical child abusers and nonabusers. The CAP abuse scale, however, provided the highest classification rates, and the rates were not improved by the addition of social support factors. In contrast to expectations, none of the social support factors distinguished between physical child abusers with a childhood history of physical abuse and the group of nonabusers with a childhood history of physical abuse.