Poster Session #1: UC Ballroom
Some Risk Factors for Child Abuse
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Paul Silverman
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Psychology
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Previous research has identified several risk factors that predict child abuse perpetration. Particular factors that will be examined in this study are: parent’s age at first child, gender of parent, history of parent abuse as a child, and responses to one question on the Child Guidance Interview (CGI). The CGI was designed to give parents hypothetical situations in which their child misbehaves, and the parents must describe their likely reactions. The sample for this study will be 76 parents extracted from a population of parents who underwent psychological and parental competence evaluations. Some of these parents were suspected of child abuse. As part of these evaluations, the parents completed the CGI, and will be identified as abusers or non-abusers using the Child Maltreatment Certainty Scale (developed by this research team). A discriminant analysis will be used to examine whether the above factors predict child abuse. Previous research shows that parent primiparous age and gender predict child abuse perpetration. However, it is not clear whether these factors also act in combination with parents’ own abuse histories to increase abuse risk. Examining the combination of these factors may provide helpful information on reducing child abuse in the future.
Some Risk Factors for Child Abuse
UC Ballroom
Previous research has identified several risk factors that predict child abuse perpetration. Particular factors that will be examined in this study are: parent’s age at first child, gender of parent, history of parent abuse as a child, and responses to one question on the Child Guidance Interview (CGI). The CGI was designed to give parents hypothetical situations in which their child misbehaves, and the parents must describe their likely reactions. The sample for this study will be 76 parents extracted from a population of parents who underwent psychological and parental competence evaluations. Some of these parents were suspected of child abuse. As part of these evaluations, the parents completed the CGI, and will be identified as abusers or non-abusers using the Child Maltreatment Certainty Scale (developed by this research team). A discriminant analysis will be used to examine whether the above factors predict child abuse. Previous research shows that parent primiparous age and gender predict child abuse perpetration. However, it is not clear whether these factors also act in combination with parents’ own abuse histories to increase abuse risk. Examining the combination of these factors may provide helpful information on reducing child abuse in the future.