NCJ Number
224094
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 14 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 870-885
Date Published
August 2008
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study examined attributions of blame regarding child physical abuse.
Abstract
The study found that perceptions of blame varied between mother and father when study participants were given scenarios depicting a case of child physical abuse. The findings show the father was held highly responsible and greater maternal culpability was assigned when a history of wife abuse was present. The degree to which the mother should have been able to predict the incident of child abuse and maternal responsibility were mitigated when the abuse resulted in the death of her child. Perceptions of maternal psychological stability were jeopardized as a function of the presence of wife abuse. The purpose of this work was twofold. First, it sought to examine the extent to which a history of wife abuse was accounted for when attributing responsibility. Secondly, it sought to examine the degree to which the severity of child abuse was implicated in attributions of blame. A total of 126 participants read 1 of 4 scenarios depicting an incident of child physical abuse inflicted by the father. Scenarios varied history of wife abuse (present vs. absent) and severity of child abuse (battering vs. death). Data were derived from a sample of 60 males and 66 females who ranged in age from 18 to 25 years of age drawn from a group of undergraduate psychology students. References