Child abuse potential in parents with histories of substance use disorder

Objective: To examine the relationship between parental history of substanc es use disorders (SUDs) and abuse potential. Method: Milner's (1986) Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) was administ ered to fathers and mothers (with and without histories of SUDs) of 10- to 12-year-old boys. Results: Fathers and mothers with lifetime histories of SUDs had higher Abu se Scale scores and were more likely to score in the Elevated range (as det ermined by clinically significant cutoff scores) than parents without such histories. No differences were found between parents with current diagnoses of SUD and those with past (but not current) histories of SUD. Fathers and mothers with a partner who had a history of SUD were more likely to score in the Elevated range, regardless of their own SUD histories. Separate regr ession models revealed that, for both fathers and mothers, emotional dysreg ulation (positive and negative affectivity) predicted Abuse Scale scores. A dditional contributors to Abuse Scale scores were SUD status in fathers, an d lack of involvement with the child in mothers. Conclusions: History of SUDs in both fathers and mothers increases abuse po tential. Contributors to abuse potential differed in fathers and mothers, u nderscoring the importance of examining parents separately in child maltrea tment research. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd.