Predictors of child abuse potential among military parents: Comparing mothers and fathers

Predictors of child abuse potential among military parents: Comparing mothers and fathers

The present study examines the predictors of child abuse potential for at-risk fathers and mothers serving as active duty Army members and their spouses. Although fathers are perpetrators of child physical abuse and neglect in a substantial portion of reported cases, what is known about factors asso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of family violence Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 123 - 129
Main Authors: SCHAEFFER, Cindy M, ALEXANDER, Pamela C, BETHKE, Kimberly, KRETZ, Lisa S
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, NY Kluwer/Plenum 01-04-2005
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Armed Forces
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Abuse
Child abuse & neglect
Child maltreatment
Child Neglect
Comparative analysis
Domestic violence
Families
Family
Family Relations
Family studies
Fathers
Gender
Gender differences
Medical sciences
Military personnel
Mothers
Parent Child Relations
Parenting style
Parents
Parents & parenting
Prevention
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Risk factors
Social problems
USA
Victimology
United States
Human
Social environment
Parental behavior
Parent
Sex
Victimology
gender differences
child maltreatment
Child abuse
Risk factor
Family environment
military families
Child
parenting
prevention
Military
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Summary:The present study examines the predictors of child abuse potential for at-risk fathers and mothers serving as active duty Army members and their spouses. Although fathers are perpetrators of child physical abuse and neglect in a substantial portion of reported cases, what is known about factors associated with child maltreatment comes almost exclusively from studies of perpetrating mothers. Thus, the inclusion of a large sample of fathers in the present study makes a significant contribution to the extant literature. Participants were 175 fathers (93% active-duty) and 590 mothers (16% active duty) of young children enrolled in an Army-sponsored home visitation program. Regression analyses indicated that there were both common and unique predictors of child abuse potential for mothers and fathers. Common predictors included depression, parental distress, and family conflict. Low family expressiveness was predictive only for fathers, whereas marital dissatisfaction, low social support, and low family cohesion were predictive only for mothers. Possible reasons for these gender differences and the implications of these results for child maltreatment interventions are discussed.
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ISSN:0885-7482
1573-2851
DOI:10.1007/s10896-005-3175-6