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Objective: The present study was designed to determine whether parents at high risk for physical child abuse, in comparison with parents at low risk, show deficits in emotion recognition, as well as to examine the moderator effect of gender and stress on the relationship between risk for physical child abuse and emotion recognition. Methods: Based on their scores on the Abuse Scale of the CAP Inventory (), 64 parents at high risk (24 fathers and 40 mothers) and 80 parents at low risk (40 fathers and 40 mothers) for physical child abuse were selected. The Subtle Expression Training Tool/Micro Expression Training Tool () and the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy II () were used to assess emotion recognition. Results: As expected, parents at high risk, in contrast to parents at low risk, showed deficits in emotion recognition. However, differences between high- and low-risk participants were observed only for fathers, but not for mothers. Whereas fathers at high risk for physical child abuse made more errors than mothers at high risk, no differences between mothers at low risk and fathers at low risk were found. No interaction between stress, gender, and risk status was observed for errors in emotion recognition. Conclusions and practice implications: The present findings, if confirmed with physical abusers, could be helpful to further our understanding of deficits in processing information of physically abusive parents and to develop treatment strategies specifically focused on emotion recognition. Moreover, if gender differences can be confirmed, the findings could be helpful to develop specific treatment programs for abusive fathers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigates whether mothers who are neglectful and at high risk for child physical abuse present a deficit in empathy. Participants were neglectful mothers (n = 37), mothers at high risk for child physical abuse (n = 22), and nonmaltreating mothers (n = 37). The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, a self-report measure assessing specific dimensions of empathy, was used to assess dispositional empathy. No differences between neglectful and non-neglectful mothers were found for perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress. High-risk mothers reported less perspective taking and more personal distress than nonmaltreating mothers. No difference between groups was found for empathic concern. The present study supported the hypothesis that parents at high risk for child physical abuse show a deficit in particular aspects of dispositional empathy: personal distress and perspective taking. However, no differences were found between neglectful and nonmaltreating mothers in any dimension of dispositional empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure of an aggressor to the suffering of his/her victim generally inhibits subsequent attacks [e.g. Baron, 1971a] presumably because of an empathic process. Physically abusive parents and individuals at high risk for child physical abuse are thought to present a deficit in empathy [e.g. Milner, Halsey and Fultz, 1995]. The present research was designed to investigate whether high-risk, compared to low-risk, subjects for child physical abuse select more aggressive responses and aggress with more intensity toward a supposed child whose behavior is adequate, inadequate or ambiguous in the presence of the child's pain cues. A second objective was to explore whether high-risk, compared to low-risk, subjects for child physical abuse fail to adequately integrate mitigating information and, therefore, do not inhibit their aggressive behavior following the receipt of mitigating information before or during an inadequate child behavior. Participants were engaged in an experimental task that involved attempting to teach a child how to proceed accurately through a computer-displayed maze and were given the opportunity to send positive (pleasant sounds and happy faces) and negative feedback (mad faces and unpleasant sounds) to the child. Two hundred and fifty undergraduate students participated in the experiment. A 2 × 5 factorial design based on two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and five conditions based on the child's behavior and the introduction of mitigating information was employed. As expected, low-risk, compared to high-risk, subjects showed less aggression when mitigating information was provided. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–15, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The present study investigated several components of a social information-processing model of child physical abuse. The main objective was to examine the extent to which high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers differed in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, and disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and to explore whether these differences may be expressed in interactions between risk status and mitigating information. Method: Nineteen high- and 19 matched low-risk mothers' evaluations of children transgressions, attributions, affect, and choices of disciplinary techniques were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in moral, conventional, and personal transgressions. One-half of the vignettes contained mitigating information and one-half did not. High- and low-risk mothers were chosen based on their potential for physical child abuse. A three-factor (2 x 3 X 2) design was used to assess the dependent variables. Results: As expected, high-risk, relative to low-risk, mothers reported more hostile intent, stable and global attributions, aversiveness, annoyance, and use of power-assertion discipline. A risk group by type of transgression interaction was found for evaluation and indifference and a risk group by mitigating information interaction was found for evaluation of wrongness, internal attributions, and aversiveness. A risk by type of transgression by mitigating information interaction was found for global/specific attributions, aversiveness, and indifference toward child transgressions. Conclusions: Results support a social information processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk, compared to low-risk, mothers process child-related information differently and use more power-assertive disciplinary techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]