Gender Differences in Empathy in Parents at High- and Low-Risk of Child Physical Abuse

Autor/inn/en	Perez-Albeniz, A.; de Paul, Joaquin
Titel	Gender Differences in Empathy in Parents at High- and Low-Risk of Child Physical Abuse
Quelle	In: Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 28 (2004) 3, S.289-300 (12 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0145-2134
DOI	10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.11.017
Schlagwörter	Gender Differences; Child Abuse; At Risk Persons; Foreign Countries; Empathy; Parent Child Relationship; Mothers; Fathers; Interpersonal Relationship; Perspective Taking; Spanish Speaking; Case Studies; Spain; Child Abuse Potential Inventory + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Geschlechterkonflikt; Abuse of children; Abuse; Child; Children; Kindesmissbrauch; Missbrauch; Kind; Kinder; Risikogruppe; Ausland; Empathie; Parents-child relationship; Parent-child-relation; Parent-child relationship; Eltern-Kind-Beziehung; Mother; Mutter; Interpersonal relation; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonelle Beziehung; Zwischenmenschliche Beziehung; Zukunftsperspektive; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Spanien
Abstract	Objectives: The present research was designed to study empathy in high-risk parents for child physical abuse. The main objective was to study if high-risk mothers and fathers, compared to low-risk mothers and fathers, presented more Personal distress, less Perspective-taking, less Empathic concern and a deficit in dispositional empathy toward their partner and children. Method: Based on their scores on the Abuse Scale of the CAP Inventory [J. S. Milner, The Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual, 2nd ed., Psytec Corporation, Webster, NC], 19 (9 fathers and 10 mothers) high- and 26 (12 fathers and 14 mothers) low-risk parents for child physical abuse were selected from a total sample of 331 parents of the Spanish general population. Both groups were statistically matched on sociodemographic variables. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) [Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology 10 (1980) 85] and the Parent/Partner Empathy Scale (PPES) [N.D. Feshbach, N. Caskey, A new scale for measuring parent empathy and partner empathy: factorial structure, correlates and clinical discrimination, 1985] were used to assess dispositional empathy. Results: An interaction between risk status and gender for "Personal distress" and "Perspective-taking" was found. High-risk mothers for child physical abuse showed more "Personal distress" than low-risk mothers and low-risk fathers. High-risk fathers for child physical abuse showed less "Perspective-taking" than low-risk mothers and low-risk fathers. No difference between both groups was found for the IRI "Empathic concern" dimension. Moreover, high-risk, compared to low-risk, parents showed lower scores both on the "Empathy toward the partner" and on the "Empathy toward the child" dimensions of the PPES. No interaction between risk status and gender was found for the PPES dimensions. Conclusions: Findings of the present study supported the hypothesis that high-risk parents for child physical abuse show a deficit both in general empathy and in empathy toward their family members. Moreover, findings suggested the existence of a different pattern of deficits in empathy for high-risk fathers and high-risk mothers. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10