NCJ Number
223960
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal Volume: 32 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2008 Pages: 702-710
Date Published
July 2008
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined evidence that child physical abuse (CPA) risk and exposure to hostility-related cues are predictive of parental interpretations, feelings, and behaviors following exposure to a 2-minute video segment of a crying infant.
Abstract
Finding found that the effects reported were generally small in magnitude. Assessing the meaningfulness of the findings reported requires consideration of several aspects of the study’s design. Additional research is recommended in examining information processing differences among high and low CPA risk parents as they attempt to respond to their infants. Managing a crying infant is a challenge universally faced by new parents. This study was designed to examine the influence of CPA risk status and hostility priming on parental reactions to a crying infant. It was hypothesized that after viewing a 2-minute videotaped segment of a crying infant: (1) high CPA risk parents would rate the infant more negatively, report feeling higher levels of hostility, and use excessive force when attempting to modulate their grip to half strength; (2) parents in the hostile, versus neutral, priming condition would rate the crying infant more negatively, report feeling higher levels of hostility, and use excessive force when attempting to modulate their grip to half strength; and (3) the combined influence of CPA risk status and priming would produce an additive effect, such that high CPA risk parents in the hostile priming condition would report the highest negative trait ratings of the crying infant, more extreme feelings of hostility, and greater use of excessive force during the hand grip task. Participants of the study included 84 parents (52 low CPA risk and 32 high CPA risk). Figures and references