Primary prevention of child abuse and neglect: Identification of high-risk adolescents

doi:10.1016/0145-2134(79)90152-2

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 3, Issues 3–4, 1979, Pages 1071-1080

https://doi.org/10.1016/0145-2134(79)90152-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

Based on the result of the study, the following conclusions are made:

1.
1. The parenting inventory developed has adequate levels of content validity, construct validity, internal reliability, and stability over time.
2.
2. Approximately 13% (150) of the adolescents responding to the inventory had factor scores -1 or more standard deviations below the group mean. It is concluded that the further the score deviates below the mean, the greater the risk the adolescent becomes for practicing abusive parenting behaviors.
3.
3. Abused adolescents have significantly lower mean scores than non-identified abused adolescents, suggesting that abused adolescents espress attitudes towards parenting and child-rearing which are similar to the parenting and child-rearing practices of abusive parents.
4.
4. Female adolescents, whether members of the abused or non-identified abused group, have higher mean scores than abused or non-identified abused male adolescents. The results suggest that male adolescents of both groups express more abusive parenting attitudes than females of both groups.
5.
5. Each of the four group parenting constructs can effectively be used to discriminate between abused and non-identified abused adolescents. Construct B: $Inability of the parent to be empathically aware of child's needs$ , however, had the greatest discriminatory capability.

The results of the study have indicated the utility of the inventory in assessing the parenting attitudes of adolescents and in discriminating between adolescents identified as abused and those non-identified as abused. In its present stage of development, the inventory may only be validly used to identify adolescents' attitudes towards child-rearing and parenting. Before the inventory is employed to identify potential child abusers for treatment purposes, it is recommended that longitudinal research be concluded. Such research should be designed to provide data relative to the predictive validity of the inventory.

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This measure (Bavolek, 1984) of maternal child-rearing beliefs includes items pertaining to four constructs often related to child maltreatment: appropriate expectations for child development, rejection of physical punishment, empathy for the child's needs, and assumption of appropriate parent–child roles. Each of these constructs is represented by items rated on a 5-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree and had displayed good reliability and content and construct validity (Bavolek, Kline, McLaughlin, & Publicover, 1979). In the current sample alphas for the various subscales ranged from a low of .75 for rejection of physical punishment to a high of .91 for appropriate family roles.
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The NPP (Bavolek, 2005) is based on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986) and the associated premise that most parenting patterns are learned during childhood and replicated later in life when the child becomes a parent. The program is designed to assess, prevent, and treat maltreatment by developing nurturing parenting skills as a counter to the key constructs of abusive and neglectful parenting identified by Bavolek, Kline, McLaughlin, and Publicover (1979) from the literature and expert advisors (as cited in Bavolek, 2005). The constructs center around parental expectations of the child, empathy toward children's needs, use of corporal punishment as a means of discipline, parent-child role responsibilities, and children's power and independence.
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Empathy and child neglect: A theoretical model
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It has been proposed that the emotion that mediates the relationship between the perception of a child in need and appropriate helping responses is empathy, which implies feelings that are more congruent with another's situation than with one's own situation (Hoffman, 1992). The inability to be empathically aware of their children's needs and to respond to these needs in an appropriate fashion is considered a common trait of maltreating parents (Bavolek, Kline, & McLaughlin, 1979; Steele, 1980). It is relevant to know that one of the six assumptions of the Nurturing Parenting Programs (developed by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1979) was that “empathy is the single most desirable quality in nurturing parenting (Bavolek, 2000, p. 5).
To present an explanatory theory-based model of child neglect. This model does not address neglectful behaviors of parents with mental retardation, alcohol or drug abuse, or severe mental health problems. In this model parental behavior aimed to satisfy a child's need is considered a helping behavior and, as a consequence, child neglect is considered as a specific type of non-helping behavior.
The central hypothesis of the theoretical model presented here suggests that neglectful parents cannot develop the helping response set to care for their children because the observation of a child's signal of need does not lead to the experience of emotions that motivate helping or because the parents experience these emotions, but specific cognitions modify the motivation to help.
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^∗: Formerely of Utah State University.

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Primary prevention of child abuse and neglect: Identification of high-risk adolescents

Abstract

Primary prevention of child abuse: Identification of high risk adolescents prior to parenthood

Child care by adolescent parents

ChiIdren Today

A comparison of the Thurstone and Likert technique of attitude scale construction

Journal of Applied Psychology

Attitude theory and measurement

Annotated computer output for factor analysis: A supplement to the write-up for computer program BMDP4M