Maltreatment in the Father-child Relationship: An Exploration of Problematic Relational Dynamics

Despite the high prevalence of father-perpetrated maltreatment, relatively little empirical attention has been given to men who abuse and neglect their children (Dubowitz, 2006, 2009; Haskett, Marziano, & Dover, 1996). To further our understanding, the current dissertation explored father-child relational dynamics that underlie risk for child maltreatment. In the first study, data from a sample of 121 maltreating fathers were used to discern differential patterns of parenting dynamics using both theoretical and statistical approaches to classification. It was hypothesized that fathers would show problems predominantly in one of five areas: emotional unavailability; negative attribution, harshness, and rejection; developmentally inappropriate interaction; poor psychological boundaries; and exposure of a child to hostile inter-parental relations. Contrary to expectation, little support was obtained for the predominant problem hypothesis. Although methodological limitations may play a role, results indicated that men were more clearly differentiated by the degree of severity evidenced across their problematic parent-child interactions, than by differences in the specific pattern of problems they experienced. An interesting finding from Study 1 was that increasingly severe relational problems were associated with a misprioritization of parent and child needs. Study 2 further explored this dynamic by revising and re-evaluating a self-report measure of men’s ability to balance needs in the father-child relationship. Data from two samples (93 community fathers and 85 maltreating fathers) provided mixed results: Support was obtained for the internal consistency and construct validity of the image-emotional needs subscale of the measure; however, minimal support was obtained for the personal needs subscale. Furthermore, in contrast to expectation, discriminant validity was not obtained for either subscale, as maltreating fathers reported a better ability to balance needs on both scales than fathers drawn from a community sample. Social desirability was one of several factors deemed to play a key role in this finding. Each study’s contribution to the field is reviewed, along with discussion of limitations and future directions.Ph