Poster Session #2: UC South Ballroom
PREVENTING THE SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS IN PARENTAL COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT: A COMPARISON OF MEASURES
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Paul Silverman
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Psychology
Abstract / Artist's Statement
In the effort to prevent child maltreatment, psychologists use various measures to assess the likelihood that an adult is abusive. The most widely used measure is the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) (Milner, 1986), a 160-item questionnaire with agree/disagree response options. Its validity, however, may be limited by a social desirability bias. Parents in child abuse or custody cases may be motivated to appear favorably, and could easily “fake good” on this questionnaire. A structured interview assessment, the Child Guidance Interview (CGI) (Infant/Preschool form), is being developed to address this weakness. Using archival data, we intend to score 25 transcribed CGI interviews with both abusive and non-abusive parents. Scores will be based on responses to five questions regarding an understanding of developmental norms, as well as one question regarding maladaptive and adaptive methods of child guidance. Archived CAP scores of all participants have previously been collected and scored. Because the CGI has a more in-depth response analysis, we expect that it will identify abusers more accurately than does the CAP. If the results of our study confirm this hypothesis, we may be able to further develop the CGI into a widely used assessment measure with greater predictive validity than the CAP.
PREVENTING THE SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS IN PARENTAL COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT: A COMPARISON OF MEASURES
UC South Ballroom
In the effort to prevent child maltreatment, psychologists use various measures to assess the likelihood that an adult is abusive. The most widely used measure is the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) (Milner, 1986), a 160-item questionnaire with agree/disagree response options. Its validity, however, may be limited by a social desirability bias. Parents in child abuse or custody cases may be motivated to appear favorably, and could easily “fake good” on this questionnaire. A structured interview assessment, the Child Guidance Interview (CGI) (Infant/Preschool form), is being developed to address this weakness. Using archival data, we intend to score 25 transcribed CGI interviews with both abusive and non-abusive parents. Scores will be based on responses to five questions regarding an understanding of developmental norms, as well as one question regarding maladaptive and adaptive methods of child guidance. Archived CAP scores of all participants have previously been collected and scored. Because the CGI has a more in-depth response analysis, we expect that it will identify abusers more accurately than does the CAP. If the results of our study confirm this hypothesis, we may be able to further develop the CGI into a widely used assessment measure with greater predictive validity than the CAP.