NCJ Number
214670
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 30 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 481-496
Date Published
May 2006
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study compared maltreating mothers and fathers in terms of their personal distress, interpersonal functioning, and perceptions of family climate.
Abstract
Results indicated that maltreating mothers reported higher levels of personal distress and more problems with individuals outside the family than maltreating fathers. Maltreating fathers were more likely to report rigid expectations for children, less cohesive families, and less organized families than maltreating mothers. Victimization in the family of origin was related to greater distress and unhappiness in both maltreating mothers and fathers. Victimization in the family of origin and history of repeated offenses were predictive of a more negative family climate for both maltreating mothers and fathers. The findings suggest that mothers do not cope with personal distress as well as fathers and that fathers tend to be more negative, rigid, and have unrealistic expectations for children. Participants were 2,841 maltreating mothers and fathers or father figures who were substantiated for child abuse or neglect and treated by the USAF Family Advocacy Program between 1988 and 1996. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires measuring demographic characteristics, type of child abuse, severity of maltreatment, recidivism, abuse in family of origin, education level, personal distress, interpersonal problems, marital problems, and family climate. Data analysis techniques included the use of cross tabulation with chi-square statistics. Future studies should continue to probe the differences between maltreating mothers and fathers. Tables, references