CHILD-ABUSE POTENTIAL INVENTORY AND PARENTING BEHAVIOR - RELATIONSHIPS WITH HIGH-RISK CORRELATES

The primary purpose of this research was to examine the construct vali dity of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory by comparing maltreating a nd high-risk parents' CAP Inventory abuse scores to their behavior dur ing interactions with their children. A second purpose was to determin e the degree to which CAP Inventory scores and parenting behavior were related to several known correlates of abuse, as measured by parent a nd teacher reports. Participants (n = 41) included abusive and high-ri sk parents and their children referred to a treatment group. Correlati onal analyses revealed that CAP Inventory scores and observed parentin g style yielded highly related findings, supporting construct validity of the CAP Inventory. However, the CAP Inventory and observed behavio r index showed a different pattern of relationships to the risk correl ates. Implications for assessment of risk status are discussed and rec ommendations are provided for continued research.