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A Cross‐Validation of Paulson's Discriminant Function‐Derived Scales for Identifying “At Risk” Child‐Abusive Parents
Author(s) -
Beal Don,
Melowski Fred,
Hamilton Amy
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1943-278x.1984.tb00681.x
Subject(s) - discriminant function analysis , psychology , clinical psychology , population , psychiatry , mental health , minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , medicine , environmental health , personality , social psychology , machine learning , computer science
ABSTRACT: Paulson, Afifi, Chaleff, Liu, & Thomason (1975) developed a series of special subscales from the MMPI for identifying individuals who are at risk for child‐abusive behavior. The initial results were highly encouraging, with the scales correctly identifying 93 to 100% of the subjects in their sample. Unfortunately, Paulson et al. (1975) failed to cross‐validate their findings before publication. When the six scales were cross‐validated on an independent sample from the population of child‐abusing parents, significant shrinkage in the accuracy of prediction was found. The use of the special subscales for identifying “at risk” parents in prenatal clinics, pediatric clinics, pediatric clinics and mental health centers as originally suggestd by Paulson and his colleagues is seriously questioned.