An inventory for the identification of child abusers

Abstract

Conducted a literature review to identify personality traits that are characteristic of individuals who abuse and neglect children. On the basis of reported traits, a Child Abuse Potential Inventory that consisted of 334 items was constructed. The Inventory was administered to 19 abusing and 19 matched nonabusing parents. An item analysis was conducted to identify those items that discriminated between abusers and nonabusers. While the best 7 items accounted for slightly over 90% of the variance, the top 25 discriminators accounted for 99% of the variance. A principal axis factoring with oblique promax rotations was performed. Four factors, or dimensions, were identified. They were: loneliness, rigidity, problems and control. Additional analysis indicated that rigidity and problems dimensions were the best predictors of abuse.