Child Abusers: Can we accurately predict them by personality?

Many studies label parents with certain demographic characteristics as being more prone to abuse children than others. Many predictors such as: gender, childhood abuse history, parental satisfaction, parent’s attribution style, child’s age, child disruptive behaviors, parental ethnicity, parental marital status, parental socioeconomic status, parental education, family size, household disorganization, coercive caregiver-child interaction patterns, and family social support are not accounting for alternative characteristics (Begle, Dumas, & Hanson, 2010). The Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), a measure of adult personality characteristics; might give us a more robust picture of what, if any, personality characteristics predict child abuse potential beyond the factors listed above. Archival evaluation records of at-risk parents have been collected, coded, and examined for abuse potential. Using a sample of 100 parental evaluations (63 abusers, 21 non-abusers) personality characteristics that predict abuse will be identified. If certain personality dimensions are identified as statistically significant predictors of abuse perpetration, above and beyond other predictors, this could aid in more accurately predicting child abuse and identifying at-risk individuals to better prevent abuse and keep families whole. Meanwhile, this research may help eliminate some of the stigma associated with belonging to an “at-risk demographic.