Child Physical Abuse Risk Research Articles

Assessing physical child abuse risk: The child abuse potential inventory

To provide information on child abuse assessment, the psychometric base of the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory, a screening scale for physical child abuse, is described. A critical review of studies reporting on the reliability, construct validity, and predictive (concurrent and future) validity of the CAP Inventory physical abuse scale is provided. As part of the section on construct validity, I summarize the physical child abuse risk factors described in the family violence literature and examine the relationship between each of the risk factors and CAP abuse scores. Incremental validity estimates, derived from studies reporting predictive validity data, are reported. The utility of using the CAP abuse scale in treatment evaluation is also discussed. Throughout the review, inconsistencies in study findings and gaps in the psychometric base for the CAP abuse scale are noted.

Risk for Physical Child Abuse and the Personal Consequences for its Victims

This article summarizes the recent literature on the effects of physical abuse on children in the domains of neurological impairment, intellectual functioning, socioemotional functioning, social behavior, and social cognition. New empirical data are presented on dysfunctional peer relationships in school-age children. The findings are interpreted within a theoretical framework composed of three elements: the conceptualization of abusive parenting as on a continuum with the parenting process in general, the effect of abuse-attributable changes in children's behavior on their future behavior, and the continuing interaction between children's dysfunctional behavior and their social environment. In addition, a multivariate family risk model for child abuse is offered and tested using a path analysis.