Re[2]: Abuse-proneness measurment instrumen

[pikel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

     I have been following the discussion about "abuse-proness instruments" 
     with great interest. I have been researching the use of Joel Milner's 
     Child Abuse Potential Inventory with adolescent mothers. I have found  
     very little psychometric data on the CAP when used with this 
     population. The data I have on 105 adolescent mothers show poor 
     reliability and scores that are extremely elevated for most of the 
     subjects. My sense is that it is being used as a pre/post measure in 
     numerous adolescent parneting projects without adequate normative 
     data. Is anyone finding similar results? 
     
     Lynn Blinn Pike, Director
     Center on Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy and Parenting
     162B Stanley Hall
     University of Missouri 
     Columbia, MO  65211
     573-882-3243   
     pikel@ext.missouri.edu
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: RE: Abuse-proneness measurment instrumen
Author:  CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu at internet-ext
Date:    6/4/98 2:36 PM


Dear Bob,
     
In addition to the Milner Instrument (Child Abuse Potential 
Inventory) There is also:
The Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory (AAPI) developed by Stephen Bavolek 
The Family Environment Scale developed by Rudolph Moos
The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) 
developed by Betty Caldwell and R.M. Bradley
The Parenting Stress Index developed by RR Abidin and B Loyd
     
You might find more instruments in Joel Fischer and Kevin 
Corcoran, Measures for Clinical Practice,2nd edition, vols 1 & 
2, 1994.
     
I must say I reacted negatively to your first post--maybe 
because e-mail lacks nonverbal cues--but you stated you wanted 
to develop an instrument that would show the probability that a 
parent would abuse a child.  I just don't think that 
parent-child dynamics are reducible to a psychometric 
instrument.  Furthermore, in my opinion, the dangers of such a 
promise  (definitely predicting when a parent will abuse a 
child) are that the instrument will be misused in practice, that 
its utility will be highly dependent on when it is used and 
under what circumstances and that its results will be open to 
interpretive challenges.  Forgive me if I have misinterpreted 
what you meant.
     
I am glad that you brought up this topic, however, because as 
researchers and educators in this field I think we need to have 
ongoing and frequent dialogues about the implications of the 
research we produce.  I'd be interested to hear what others 
think.
     
Sherrill Clark, MSW, PhD
California Social Work Education Center 
University of California at Berkeley 
School of Social Welfare
120 Haviland Hall
Berkeley CA 94720-7400
(phone 510-642-9273)