Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Cheryl McNeil

Committee Co-Chair

Christina Duncan

Committee Member

Nicholas Turiano

Abstract

Child abuse is a pervasive, global problem impacting millions of children (Stoltenborgh et al., 2015). Researchers have largely relied on the use of parent-report questionnaires to examine a variety of risk factors for child abuse (see Azar, 2002; Stith et al., 2009), leaving a gap in the research regarding the link between observed parent and child behaviors and child abuse potential. Utilizing a sample of families clinically referred for child behavioral problems, the proposed study pursued a multi-method approach to explore relations between parent factors (parent attachment, emotion regulation, harsh behaviors, and stress), child factors (child disruptive behaviors), and the potential for child abuse (assessed using the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory; BCAP; Ondersma et al., 2005). Forty-one parent-child dyads were referred to the Karitane Toddler Clinic, a mental health center near Sydney, Australia. Parents completed a series of questionnaires about themselves and their child and were also videotaped while interacting with their child in 3 play scenarios. Multiple regressions were conducted to examine parent- and child-level predictors of BCAP Abuse Risk scores. Parental romantic attachment anxiety was determined to be the only significant contributor of Abuse Risk score predictions. However, bivariate correlations demonstrated strong associations between Abuse Risk and parent emotion dysregulation and parental stress. Limitations of the study (e.g., small sample size, truncated range of Abuse Risk scores) and future directions are discussed.

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