Child Physical Abuse Risk Research Articles

The Effects of Early Prevention Programs for Families with Young Children at Risk for Physical Child Abuse and Neglect: A Reply on the Comments of Miller

The Effects of Early Prevention Programs for Families with Young Children at Risk for Physical Child Abuse and Neglect: A Reply on the Comments of Miller

Empathy and risk status for child physical abuse: the effects of an adult victim's pain cues and an adult victim's intent on aggression

It has been proposed that abusive parents and parents at high risk for child physical abuse could be more likely to view children's behavior as being motivated by hostile intent [e.g., Milner, 1993], as compared to nonabusive and low-risk parents. This kind of misattribution of other's behavior may inhibit empathic emotion, and therefore, could block the inhibiting effect of a victim's pain cues on aggression [Baron, 1979]. An experiment was designed to analyze the moderating effect of an adult victim's intent on aggression in high- and low-risk participants for child physical abuse. A 2 × 2 factorial design based upon two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and two levels of victim's intent (positive, ambiguous) was employed. All participants observed an adult victim's pain cues. Ninety-five (48 high and 47 low risk for child physical abuse) undergraduate females enrolled in courses at the University of the Basque Country participated in the experiment. The main effects of victims' intent and of participants' risk status were statistically significant. Participants in the ambiguous victim's intent condition aggressed significantly more than participants in the positive victim's intent condition. Moreover, high-risk participants aggressed more than low-risk participants regardless of the victim's intent. A significant interaction between risk status and victim's intent was expected. High-risk subjects for child physical abuse were expected to aggress more than low-risk subjects only in the ambiguous victim's intent condition. However, results did not support this hypothesis. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–12, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Aggression inhibition in high- and low-risk subjects for child physical abuse: effects of a child's hostile intent and the presence of mitigating information

Exposure of an aggressor to the suffering of his/her victim generally inhibits subsequent attacks [e.g. Baron, 1971a] presumably because of an empathic process. Physically abusive parents and individuals at high risk for child physical abuse are thought to present a deficit in empathy [e.g. Milner, Halsey and Fultz, 1995]. The present research was designed to investigate whether highrisk, compared to low-risk, subjects for child physical abuse select more aggressive responses and aggress with more intensity toward a supposed child whose behavior is adequate, inadequate or ambiguous in the presence of the child's pain cues. A second objective was to explore whether high-risk, compared to low-risk, subjects for child physical abuse fail to adequately integrate mitigating information and, therefore, do not inhibit their aggressive behavior following the receipt of mitigating information before or during an inadequate child behavior. Participants were engaged in an experimental task that involved attempting to teach a child how to proceed accurately through a computer-displayed maze and were given the opportunity to send positive (pleasant sounds and happy faces) and negative feedback (mad faces and unpleasant sounds) to the child. Two hundred and fifty undergraduate students participated in the experiment. A 2 x 5 factorial design based on two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and five conditions based on the child's behavior and the introduction of mitigating information was employed. As expected, low-risk, compared to high-risk, subjects showed less aggression when mitigating information was provided. Language: en

Religiosity and Risk of Perpetrating Child Physical Abuse: An Empirical Investigation

We empirically examined the hypothesis that Conservative Protestants are at greater risk than Mainline Protestants, Catholics, or the religiously unaffiliated to perpetrate child physical abuse (CPA), and explored whether other aspects of religiosity (interest, participation, orthodoxy, intrinsic and extrinsic orientation) were related to CPA risk. As part of a larger survey, college students (166 men, 270 women) completed self-report measures assessing CPA risk and various dimensions of religiosity. Conservative Protestants did not score significantly higher than the other groups on CPA risk. However, extrinsic religiosity predicted increased risk of CPA.

Predicting Adult Risk of Child Physical Abuse From Childhood Exposure to Violence: Can Interpersonal Schemata Explain the Association?

Interpersonal schemata were examined to explain the association between childhood exposure to violence—including child physical abuse (CPA), child sexual abuse, and domestic violence—and adult risk of CPA perpetration. In a sample of male and female U.S. Navy recruits (N = 4,812), all forms of childhood violence and models of the self and others were predictive of increased adult CPA risk, and their effects were additive. Interpersonal schemata did not moderate or mediate the relationship between childhood violence and adult CPA risk; instead, interpersonal schemata were independent predictors of adult risk of CPA perpetration.

Associations between voluntary and involuntary forms of perinatal loss and child maltreatment among low‐income mothers

This study explored maternal history of perinatal loss relative to risk of child physical abuse and neglect. The 518 study participants included 118 abusive mothers, 119 neglecting mothers, and 281 mothers with no known history of child maltreatment. Interviews and observations were conducted in the participants' homes, and comparisons were made between women without a history of perinatal loss and women with one and multiple losses relative to risk for child maltreatment. Compared to women with no history of perinatal loss, those with one loss (voluntary or involuntary) had a 99% higher risk for child physical abuse, and women with multiple losses were 189% more likely to physically abuse their children. Compared to women with no history of induced abortion, those with one prior abortion had a 144% higher risk for child physical abuse. Finally, maternal history of multiple miscarriages and/or stillbirths compared to no history was associated with a 1237% increased risk of physical abuse and a 605% increased risk of neglect. Perinatal loss may be a marker for elevated risk of child physical abuse, and this information is potentially useful to child maltreatment prevention and intervention efforts.

The Role of Fathers in Risk for Physical Child Abuse and Neglect: Possible Pathways and Unanswered Questions

Despite overrepresentation of fathers as perpetrators in cases of severe physical child abuse and neglect, the role they play in shaping risk for physical child abuse and neglect is not yet well understood. This article reviews the possible father pathways that may contribute to physical child abuse and neglect risk and their existing empirical support. The present empirical base implicates a set of sociodemographic factors in physical maltreatment risk, including fathers' absence, age, employment status, and income they provide to the family. As well, paternal psychosocial factors implicated in physical child maltreatment risk include fathers' abuse of substances, their own childhood experiences of maltreatment, the nature of fathers' relationships with mothers, and the direct care they provide to the child. However, the empirical base presently suffers from significant methodological limitations, preventing more definitive identification of risk factors or causal processes. Given this, the present article offers questions and recommendations for future research and prevention.

Empathy in individuals at risk for child physical abuse: The effects of victim's pain cues on aggression

Exposure of an aggressor to the suffering of his/her victim generally inhibits subsequent attacks [e.g., Baron, Aggression as a function of magnitude of victim's pain cues, level of prior anger arousal, and aggressor-victim similarity, J Pers Soc Psychol 18:48-54, 1971a], presumably because of an empathic process. Physically abusive parents and individuals at high-risk for child physical abuse are thought to present a deficit of empathy [e.g., Milner et al., Empathic responsiveness and affective reactivity to infant stimuli in high- and low-risk for physical child abuse mothers, Child Abuse Negl 19:767-780, 1995]. This study examined whether individuals at high-risk for child physical abuse show empathy and inhibit aggression when exposed to cues thought to be associated with victim suffering. Eighty undergraduate female students participated. A 2 x 2 factorial design based upon 2 levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and 2 levels of victim's pain cues (present, absent) was employed. Findings suggest that high-risk participants in the pain cues condition selected higher intensities of shocks to aggress than high-risk participants in the absent cues condition. However, risk status was not associated with reports of personal distress or empathic concern. Aggress. Behav. 31:336-349, 2005.

The effects of early prevention programs for families with young children at risk for physical child abuse and neglect: a meta-analysis.

In this article, a meta-analysis is presented on 40 evaluation studies of early prevention programs for families with young children at risk for physical child abuse and neglect with mostly nonrandomized designs. The main aim of all programs was to prevent physical child abuse and neglect by providing early family support. For the meta-analysis, a multilevel approach was used. A significant overall positive effect was found, pointing to the potential usefulness of these programs. The study demonstrated a significant decrease in the manifestation of abusive and neglectful acts and a significant risk reduction in factors such as child functioning, parent-child interaction, parent functioning, family functioning, and context characteristics.

Risk for intimate partner violence and child physical abuse: psychosocial characteristics of multirisk male and female Navy recruits.

This study examined psychosocial characteristics of individuals at risk for perpetrating both intimate partner violence (IPV risk) and child physical abuse (CPA risk). The sample consisted of 775 female and 592 male Navy recruits. The psychosocial variables assessed included symptoms of dysphoria, posttraumatic stress, self-dysfunction, alcohol-related problems, and drug use. IPV risk and CPA risk were positively associated with approximately 9% of the total sample considered multirisk (i.e., positive for both IPV risk and CPA risk). Results of regression analyses revealed that patterns of predictors (demographic and psychosocial variables) for IPV-risk only and CPA-risk only differed with multirisk individuals characterized by the combined predictors of both types of violence risk. Nearly half (47.2%) of the multirisk individuals were characterized by multiple (i.e., two or more) clinical elevations on the psychosocial characteristics assessed.

Interpretations of child compliance in individuals at high- and low-risk for child physical abuse

Objective: Our studies compared individuals at high- and low-risk for child physical abuse on measures of social information processing. Method: Two studies were conducted using similar methods. Twenty-eight childless women in Study 1 and 36 mothers in Study 2 read vignettes of parent-child interactions in which the child’s level of compliance was difficult to interpret. Participants were asked a series of questions about the child’s behavior and their own reactions. Results: Accuracy and bias in identifying compliant behavior were assessed using a signal detection paradigm. In both samples, high- and low-risk participants did not differ in their overall accuracy in identifying children’s behaviors. However, they used different evaluation standards such that high-risk participants were biased toward seeing more noncompliance and low-risk participants were biased toward seeing more compliance. High- and low-risk participants also made different types of errors in interpreting children’s behavior. Low-risk participants were more likely to misinterpret noncompliant behavior as compliant, and there was a trend for high-risk participants to not perceive compliant behavior when it occurred. There were no differences in reported disciplinary responses in either study and the results for affective reactions were mixed. Conclusions: Specific differences in social information processing between high- and low-risk individuals replicated across samples, suggesting a reliable association between evaluation standards and risk of child physical abuse. However, the absence of differences in reported discipline and inconsistent findings on affective reactions indicate the need to identify the mechanism through which cognition influences parenting behavior.

Evaluations, attributions, affect, and disciplinary choices in mothers at high and low risk for child physical abuse

Objective: The present study investigated several components of a social information-processing model of child physical abuse. The main objective was to examine the extent to which high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers differed in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, and disciplinary choices for children’s behavior, and to explore whether these differences may be expressed in interactions between risk status and mitigating information. Method: Nineteen high- and 19 matched low-risk mothers’ evaluations of children transgressions, attributions, affect, and choices of disciplinary techniques were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in moral, conventional, and personal transgressions. One-half of the vignettes contained mitigating information and one-half did not. High- and low-risk mothers were chosen based on their potential for physical child abuse. A three-factor (2 × 3 × 2) design was used to assess the dependent variables. Results: As expected, high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers reported more hostile intent, stable and global attributions, aversiveness, annoyance, and use of power-assertion discipline. A risk group by type of transgression interaction was found for evaluation and indifference and a risk group by mitigating information interaction was found for evaluation of wrongness, internal attributions, and aversiveness. A risk by type of transgression by mitigating information interaction was found for global/specific attributions, aversiveness, and indifference toward child transgressions. Conclusions: Results support a social information processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers process child-related information differently and use more power-assertive disciplinary techniques.

Childhood physical abuse, early social support, and risk for maltreatment: current social support as a mediator of risk for child physical abuse☆

Objective: The study investigated whether perceptions of social support in adulthood partially mediated the associations between childhood experiences (i.e., receipt of physical abuse and levels of early social support) and adult risk for child physical abuse.Method: Participants included 598 general population adults who completed self-report measures designed to assess childhood physical abuse, perceptions of early and current social support, and risk factors for child physical abuse. Structural equation modeling was used to test and cross validate a model that included the direct effects of child physical abuse and early social support on child physical abuse risk, as well as mediated effects through an influence on adult perceptions of social support.Results: Childhood physical abuse and early social support covaried, such that receipt of physical abuse was associated with lower levels of perceived early social support. Early support, but not child physical abuse, had an indirect effect (i.e., through current support) on child physical abuse risk. More specifically, levels of early support were directly related to adult perceptions of support, and adult perceptions of support were inversely associated with child physical abuse risk. Childhood physical abuse was directly related to child physical abuse risk.Conclusions: Low levels of early support may impact risk for child physical abuse by affecting perceptions of others as supportive in adulthood. The receipt of physical abuse in childhood, however, does not appear to impact perceptions of support in adulthood. Research is needed to identify additional factors that may explain the association between receipt of physical abuse in childhood and increased risk of child physical abuse in adulthood.

Emotion recognition ability in mothers at high and low risk for child physical abuse

Objective: The study sought to determine if high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers make more emotion recognition errors when they attempt to recognize emotions in children and adults. Method: Thirty-two demographically matched high-risk ( n = 16) and low-risk ( n = 16) mothers were asked to identify different emotions expressed by children and adults. Sets of high- and low-intensity, visual and auditory emotions were presented. Mothers also completed measures of stress, depression, and ego-strength. Results: High-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers showed a tendency to make more errors on the visual and auditory emotion recognition tasks, with a trend toward more errors on the low-intensity, visual stimuli. However, the observed trends were not significant. Only a post-hoc test of error rates across all stimuli indicated that high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers made significantly more emotion recognition errors. Although situational stress differences were not found, high-risk mothers reported significantly higher levels of general parenting stress and depression and lower levels of ego-strength. Conclusions: Since only trends and a significant post hoc finding of more overall emotion recognition errors in high-risk mothers were observed, additional research is needed to determine if high-risk mothers have emotion recognition deficits that may impact parent-child interactions. As in prior research, the study found that high-risk mothers reported more parenting stress and depression and less ego-strength.

Impact of child noncompliance on stress appraisals, attributions, and disciplinary choices in mothers at high and low risk for child physical abuse

Objective: The study investigated the impact of repeated child noncompliance on stress appraisals, attributions, and disciplinary choices in high- and low-risk mothers. Method: Fifty (25 high-risk and 25 demographically matched low-risk) mothers responded to questions related to stress appraisals, attributions, and disciplinary choices following presentations of a child engaging in repeated noncompliance. Results: After repeated child noncompliance, high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers perceived more threat and uncontrollability, rated child behaviors as more stressful, and reported higher levels of negative affect. High-risk mothers also reported more stable, global, and intentional attributions, with a trend toward more internal attributions, but did not differ in their evaluations of wrongness and seriousness of the child’s behavior. After repeated noncompliance, a risk group difference was found in estimates of future child compliance but not in the use of power assertive discipline. Conclusions: Results support the view that high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers are differentially responsive to stressful situations and differ in their attributions for negative child behaviors and in their expectations of future child compliance. However, since risk group differences in disciplinary choices were not also found, additional research is needed to demonstrate the process through which risk group cognitive and affective differences are related to differences in disciplinary behavior.

Impact and Detection of Response Distortions on Parenting Measures Used to Assess Risk for Child Physical Abuse

This study investigates the impact of instructional conditions (fake good, be honest, fake bad, and respond randomly) on the scores of 3 parenting measures: the Adult/Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI; Bavolek, 1984), the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory (Milner, 1986), and the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; Abidin, 1995) in general-population parents and at-risk parents. In addition, the study explores the ability of the PSI Defensiveness Scale and the CAP Inventory validity indexes to detect response distortions. As expected, most parenting-measure scores changed significantly as a result of parents' attempts to distort their responses. Across the response-distortion conditions, the PSI Defensiveness Scale only detected protocols in the fake-good condition with detection rates below 50%, whereas the CAP Inventory validity indexes correctly detected as invalid 94.7% and 91.1% of the protocols generated by general-population parents and at-risk parents, respectively. With regard to correct detection and labeling rates, except for the labeling of faking-bad behavior in the at-risk group (57.9% correct), the labeling rates of the CAP validity indexes for each of the response-distortion conditions in the general population and at-risk groups were acceptable, ranging from 82.4% to 100% correct.

Evaluation of an Air Force Child Physical Abuse Prevention Project Using the Reliable Change Index

Three hundred and seventy-nine parents at 25 Air Force bases participated in a collaborative child physical abuse prevention project designed by the United States Air Force Family Advocacy Program and Father Flanagan's Boys' Home (Boys Town). These participants were active duty or civilian employee parents and their spouses who completed the Boys Town Common Sense Parenting ® program as part of a comprehensive prevention effort. We hypothesized that participants would report decreased child behavior problems, improved relationships with family members, and reduced risk for child physical abuse after attending parenting sessions. Results supported this hypothesis. The data were also analyzed to determine the frequencies of individual parents who made statistically reliable changes on the dependent measures using Jacobson's Reliable Change Index. Nineteen to 30% of the participants reported significant improvement in the areas assessed. Parents who improved in abuse risk were at a higher level of risk and were less satisfied with family relationships prior to their participation than those who did not change. Implications for prevention of child physical abuse and future directions for research are discussed.

Childhood parenting experiences, intimate partner conflict resolution, and adult risk for child physical abuse

This study investigated the relationships between conflict resolution tactics experienced during childhood, intimate partner conflict resolution tactics, alcohol problems, and adult child physical abuse risk. Participants were 1,544 Navy recruit trainees who volunteered to complete measures of parenting practices and spousal physical violence experienced during their childhood, the conflict resolution techniques used in their intimate relationships, their personal history of alcohol problems, and child physical abuse potential. Regression analyses indicated that the receipt of intimate partner physical violence accounted for the most variance in predicting who would inflict physical violence against an intimate partner; and the infliction of intimate partner physical violence accounted for the most variance in predicting who would receive physical violence from an intimate partner. Other analyses indicated that among the parent and intimate partner physically violent events, parent-child violence experienced during childhood accounted for the most variance in explaining child abuse risk in females and males, with the infliction of intimate partner violence adding only to the prediction of child abuse risk in females. Analyses also revealed that after the effects of violent experiences were removed, alcohol problems contributed significantly, albeit very modestly, to the prediction of who expressed intimate partner physical violence for males and females, who was physically injured by an intimate partner (in the case of male injury), and who was at risk of child physical abuse for males and females.

The Relationship of Maternal Adult Attachment Style and Risk of Physical Child Abuse

The present study assessed maternal adult attachment style and the specific adult attachment attitudes and behaviors of mothers as factors in physical child abuse risk. Interviews were conducted with 48 single mothers who were receiving government assistance and had a child of preschool age. Participants' child abuse risk potential was determined by their responses or performance on several instruments previously found to discriminate between abusive and adequate mothers. Mothers with an insecure adult attachment style (ambivalent or avoidant) were at significantly higher risk for child abuse than mothers with a secure attachment style. The role of several attachment-related dynamics (i.e., trust difficulties, jealousy or clinging behaviors, ambivalence in relationships, frustration with partners, and fear of abandonment) in physical child maltreatment dynamics are discussed.

Parental levels of empathy as related to risk assessment in child protective services

Much attention has been paid to empathy as a concept necessary to the therapeutic relationship and successful outcomes with clients. Less attention has been paid to the importance of empathy in the parent-child relationship. Even less attention has been paid to empathy as it relates to the presence or absence of child abuse in the parent-child relationship. While early literature on child abuse eluded to the parents' ability or inability to empathize with the child, recent emphasis on risk assessment and studies of variables used as factors to predict risk of abuse do not include parental empathy. Research presented in this article suggests that a complete assessment of risk of child physical abuse must include a measure of parental empathy. The article also suggests that a measure of parental empathy be added to each of the risk assessment tools used by child protective service specialists.