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Family functioning and child abuse potential
Author(s) -
Mollerstrom Willard W.,
Patchner Michael A.,
Milner Joel S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(199207)48:4<445::aid-jclp2270480404>3.0.co;2-2
Subject(s) - psychology , family environment scale , child abuse , domestic violence , psychological abuse , developmental psychology , physical abuse , poison control , clinical psychology , social psychology , suicide prevention , medical emergency , medicine
Family conflict and the lack of family cohesion are believed to set a foundation for coercive interactions that increase the likelihood of child abuse. The present study investigated the relationship between the family social environment (Family Environment Scale and Index of Marital Satisfaction) and physical child abuse potential (Child Abuse Potential Inventory) in maltreating ( n = 376) and comparison ( n = 148) parents. As expected, the strongest positive relationship was between family conflict and abuse potential. The strongest inverse relationships were between family cohesion, family expressiveness, marital satisfaction, and abuse scores, which indicates that the lack of positive interactional patterns is related to abuse potential. However, regression analysis revealed that family interactional patterns did not account for the majority of variance in abuse potential.