NCJ Number
104890
Journal
Journal of Clinical Psychology Volume: 42 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1986) Pages: 169-172
Date Published
1986
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the ability of the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory to screen for child abuse in a group of spouse abusers.
Abstract
Eighty-seven untreated male spouse abusers and 94 nonabusers were administered the CAP Inventory. All subjects were active duty, United States military personnel. The completed, valid protocols revealed 36.5 percent of the spouse abusers had elevated child abuse scores, while only 9.1 percent of the nonabusers had elevated abuse scores. An analysis of variance indicated that spouse abusers had significantly higher mean abuse scores. Four concurrent reports of child abuse were made in the spouse abuse group. Two of these spouse/child abusers had valid protocols, and both scored significantly higher than those spouse abusers with no reported child abuse. The finding that over 36 percent of the spouse abusers had elevated child abuse scores supports Walker's (1979) finding that one-third of spouse abusers are child abusers. A limitation in this study is that no longitudinal data were obtained to determine whether those with elevated child abuse scores who were not reported for child abuse subsequently would abuse their children. 16 references. (Author abstract modified)