Child physical abuse risk moderates spontaneously inferred traits from ambiguous child behaviors

Abstract

The present study examined whether parents at high-risk for child physical abuse (CPA) differed from low-risk parents in their tendency to infer positive traits and negative traits from children’s behaviors. The final sample consisted of 58 (25 low CPA risk and 33 high CPA risk) parents. Parents completed a false-recognition task, which involved viewing behavior descriptions paired with child photographs. Half of the behavior descriptions vaguely/strongly implied a trait and half of the implied traits were positive/negative. The contributions of automatic processes and controlled processes to task performance were examined using process dissociation procedures. Low CPA risk parents were significantly less likely to indicate negative traits were present in behavioral descriptions of children when negative traits were vaguely (compared to strongly) implied. In contrast, high CPA risk parents were equally likely to indicate negative traits were present regardless of whether the traits were vaguely or strongly implied. For low (but not high) CPA risk parents, automatic processes contributed significantly less to task performance when negative traits were vaguely implied compared to when the same traits were strongly implied. Given that parenting involves negotiating a seemingly endless series of ambiguous behaviors as children grow and develop, the capacity to refrain from automatically attributing negative traits to children when they exhibit vaguely negative behaviors may serve an important function in reducing risk of aggressive parenting behavior.

Parents’ spontaneous evaluations of children and symbolic harmful behaviors toward their child

“…After omissions, data from 100 parents were included in the final sample. This rate of exclusion due to invalid CAP inventories is consistent with exclusion rates observed in previous research (e.g., Carr, Moretti, & Cue, 2005; McCarthy et al, 2013). Of parents with a valid CAP abuse scale score, 60 parents (60% of full sample) had CAP abuse scale scores less than 166 and were deemed “low-risk” and 40 parents (40% of full sample) had CAP abuse scale scores equal to or greater than 166 and were deemed “high-risk.”…”

“…One possibility is that high-risk parents were insensitive to the acquisition of any new evaluative child information. However, this interpretation seems unlikely given that CPA risk group differences are commonly observed from similar paradigms examining parents’ semantic inferences about children (c.f., Crouch et al, 2010; McCarthy et al, 2013). …”

“…According to the social information processing model of CPA (e.g., Milner, 2003), parents who are high-risk for CPA are believed to form more negative evaluations of children in response to children’s negative behaviors, and less positive evaluations of children in response to children’s positive behaviors, than low-risk parents. However, although CPA risk group differences have reliably emerged in parents’ semantic inferences about children (e.g., Crouch et al, 2010; Irwin et al, 2014; McCarthy et al, 2013), such differences have not reliably emerged in parents’ evaluative inferences about children (c.f., Farc, Crouch, Skowronski, & Milner, 2008; Risser et al, 2011). …”

Initial Impressions of Others

“…Crouch et al (2010) reported that parents high on risk for child physical abuse (CPA) inferred more traits from children's negative behaviors than from positive ones, and this difference was greater than for low CPA risk parents. McCarthy et al (2013) looked at STIs from children's behaviors in a PDP analysis of false recognition among parents at high versus low risk for CPA. Traits were positive or negative and either vaguely or strongly implied.…”

A social work study on family patterns and child abuse

“…The study targeted specific variables, which could enable professionals to select groups of parents at greater require of participating in abuse prevention programs. McCarthy et al (2013) investigated whether parents at high-risk for child physical abuse (CPA) varied from low-risk parents in their likelihood to infer positive traits and negative traits from children's behaviors. They examined the contributions of automatic processes and controlled processes to task performance based on process dissociation procedures.…”