Christina M. Rodriguez

Preliminary evaluation of an analog procedure to assess acceptability of intimate partner violence against women: the Partner Violence Acceptability Movie Task.

Acceptability of partner violence against women is a risk factor linked to its perpetration, and to public, professionals’ and victims’ responses to this behavior. Research on the acceptability of violence in intimate partner relationships is, however, limited by reliance solely on self-reports that often provide distorted or socially desirable accounts that may misrepresent respondents’ attitudes. This study presents data on the development and initial validation of a new analog task assessing respondents’ acceptability of physical violence toward women in intimate relationships: the Partner Violence Acceptability Movie Task (PVAM). This new analog task is intended to provide a more implicit measure of the acceptability of partner violence against women. For this analog task, clips were extracted from commercially available films (90-s segments) portraying partner violence. Two independent samples were used to develop and evaluate the PVAM: a sample of 245 undergraduate students and a sample of 94 male intimate partner violence offenders. This new analog task demonstrated acceptable internal consistency. Results also indicated adequate construct validity. Both perpetrators and undergraduates scoring high in the PVAM also scored higher in self-reported justifications of partner abuse. Perpetrators of partner violence scored significantly higher in acceptability of partner violence than the undergraduate sample (both male and female students), and male students scored higher than females. These preliminary results suggest that the PVAM may be a promising tool to assess the acceptability of violence in intimate partner relationships, highlighting the need to consider alternatives to self-report to evaluate potential beliefs about partner violence.

Family Dysfunction and Social Isolation as Moderators Between Stress and Child Physical Abuse Risk

Stress is a significant contributor to child physical maltreatment risk. Family and social supports are expected, but less studied, risk factors. Little empirical support clarifies the interactive influence on abuse risk for non-abusive parents. This study examined whether the stress-abuse risk relation was moderated by family dysfunction and social isolation. Subjective appraisals of these factors were administered to 95 community mothers. After creating composite scores using factor loadings from a CFA, multiple regression analyses were conducted to predict abuse risk. As expected, stress predicted abuse risk, with social isolation and, to a lesser extent, family dysfunction serving as moderators. Perceived stress and dysfunctional supports are important, interactive predictors of abuse risk. Future directions consider interactions within other ecological levels.

Parent–Child Aggression Risk in Expectant Mothers and Fathers: A Multimethod Theoretical Approach

The current investigation evaluated whether cognitive processes characteristic of the Social Information Processing model predicted parent–child aggression (PCA) risk independent of personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies. This study utilized a multimethod approach, including analog tasks, with a diverse sample of 203 primiparous expectant mothers and 151 of their partners. Factors considered in this study included PCA approval attitudes, empathy, reactivity, negative child attributions, compliance expectations, and knowledge of non-physical discipline alternatives; additionally, vulnerabilities included psychopathology symptoms, domestic violence victimization, and substance use, whereas resiliencies included perceived social support, partner relationship satisfaction, and coping efficacy. For both mothers and fathers, findings supported the role of greater approval of PCA attitudes, lower empathy, more overreactivity, more negative attributions, and higher compliance expectations in relation to elevated risk of PCA. Moreover, personal vulnerabilities and resiliencies related to PCA risk for mothers; however, fathers and mothers differed on the nature of these relationships with respect to vulnerabilities as well as aspects of empathy and PCA approval attitudes. Findings provide evidence for commonalities in many of the factors investigated between mothers and fathers with some notable distinctions. Results are discussed in terms of how findings could inform prevention programs.

Predicting parent-child aggression risk: cognitive factors and their interaction with anger

Several cognitive elements have previously been proposed to elevate risk for physical child abuse. To predict parent–child aggression risk, the current study evaluated the role of approval of parent–child aggression, perceptions of children as poorly behaved, and discipline attributions. Several dimensions of attributions specifically tied to parents’ discipline practices were targeted. In addition, anger experienced during discipline episodes was considered a potential moderator of these cognitive processes. Using a largely multiple-indicator approach, a sample of 110 mothers reported on these cognitive and affective aspects that may occur when disciplining their children as well as responding to measures of parent–child aggression risk. Findings suggest that greater approval of parent–child aggression, negative perceptions of their child’s behavior, and discipline attributions independently predicted parent–child aggression risk, with anger significantly interacting with mothers’ perception of their child as more poorly behaved to exacerbate their parent–child aggression risk. Of the discipline attribution dimensions evaluated, mothers’ sense of external locus of control and believing their child deserved their discipline were related to increase parent–child aggression risk. Future work is encouraged to comprehensively evaluate how cognitive and affective components contribute and interact to increase risk for parent–child aggression.

Multimethod prediction of child abuse risk in an at-risk sample of male intimate partner violence offenders

The vast majority of research on child abuse potential has concentrated on women demonstrating varying levels of risk of perpetrating physical child abuse. In contrast, the current study considered factors predictive of physical child abuse potential in a group of 70 male intimate partner violence offenders, a group that would represent a likely high risk group. Elements of Social Information Processing theory were evaluated, including pre-existing schemas of empathy, anger, and attitudes approving of parent-child aggression considered as potential moderators of negative attributions of child behavior. To lend methodological rigor, the study also utilized multiple measures and multiple methods, including analog tasks, to predict child abuse risk. Contrary to expectations, findings did not support the role of anger independently predicting child abuse risk in this sample of men. However, preexisting beliefs approving of parent-child aggression, lower empathy, and more negative child behavior attributions independently predicted abuse potential; in addition, greater anger, poorer empathy, and more favorable attitudes toward parent-child aggression also exacerbated mens negative child attributions to further elevate their child abuse risk. Future work is encouraged to consider how factors commonly considered in women parallel or diverge from those observed to elevate child abuse risk in men of varying levels of risk.

A Preliminary Evaluation of the Spanish Parent–Child Aggression Acceptability Movie Task in Spain

The current study presents a preliminary evaluation of a Spanish adaptation of an implicit analog procedure, the Parent–child Aggression Acceptability Movie task (Spanish Parent-CAAM). Based on Social Information Processing theory, Spanish Parent-CAAM scores were expected to relate to self-reported PCA attitudes, negative child attributions, and child abuse risk in Spanish students; 245 undergraduates in Spain completed the Spanish Parent-CAAM along with self-report measures of PCA attitudes, negative children attributions, inclination to punish misbehavior, and child abuse risk. Findings indicate Spanish Parent-CAAM scores were significantly related to explicit measures of PCA, attributions of intentional child misbehavior, propensity to punish such misbehavior, and increased child abuse potential. Results are considered within the cultural context of Spain’s corporal punishment ban and PCA attitudes.

Disentangling the Cycle: Potential Mediators and Moderators in the Intergenerational Transmission of Parent–Child Aggression

Although a cycle of harsh and abusive parenting has been recognized for decades, this cycle is not inevitable. Indeed, the mechanisms underlying such patterns, and the resources parents may access to disrupt this cycle, require further study. Research investigating those processes has either relied on cross-sectional designs or largely assessed mediators or moderators at one time point. The current investigation of parent–child aggression (PCA) risk utilized a longitudinal design to consider possible mediators and moderators across three time points. Mothers and fathers reported on their personal history of physical and psychological abuse during the last trimester of the mother’s pregnancy; their PCA risk was assessed concurrently when their child was 6 months and when their child was 18 months. Current findings support several mediators for mothers, although fewer for fathers, prenatally, but mediation was not observed across time. Similarly, several moderators of the effect of personal history of physical and psychological aggression on PCA risk were identified prenatally but not across time. Thus, several qualities believed to account for, or mitigate, the intergenerational transmission of PCA may not be consistent—underscoring the continued need to identify factors that account for the cyclical process versus what may interrupt intergenerational transmission.

Assessing the Amount of Spontaneous Real-World Spoken Language in Aphasia: Validation of Two Methods

Purpose The purpose of this article is to present the results of a study evaluating the psychometric properties of 2 new measures that exclusively assess the amount of real-world spoken language in patients with aphasia. Method Forty individuals with aphasia were evaluated on several measures of spoken language in real-world settings. The Verbal Activity Log (VAL; Johnson et al., 2014) has participants, aided by caregivers, indicate current amount and quality of real-world spoken language compared with before stroke. In addition, digital voice recorders objectively measured the amount of real-world spoken language. The Communicative Effectiveness Index (Lomas et al., 1989), a previously validated measure of functional communication, was used as a comparison measure. Nineteen participants received follow-up assessment ≥ 3 weeks later. Results Validity was supported by Pearson correlations between spoken language recordings and the VAL, r(38) = .70, p < .001. Likewise, correlation with the Communicative Effectiveness Index was strong, r(38) = .73, p < .001. Test-retest reliability for both VAL and audio recording was high, with intraclass correlations ≥ .96 and .90, respectively. Conclusions These results present preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the VAL and spoken language recording for assessment of the amount of real-world spoken language in aphasia. As a simple patient-reported outcome, the VAL may assist diverse therapies for aphasia.

Cognitive-Affective Pathways to Child Depressive and Anxious Symptoms: Role of Children’s Discipline Attributions

Children’s maladaptive cognitive attributions may elicit affective reactions that contribute to depressive and anxious symptoms. This study investigated cognitive-affective pathways in depressive and anxious symptoms in a sample of 110 prepubertal children, evaluating children’s specific appraisals of experiences of parental discipline as well as general attributional style, along with their hopelessness, self-esteem, and shame. Pathways toward depressive and anxious symptoms were tested simultaneously to identify potential unique etiological mechanisms. Results suggested that lower self-esteem strongly contributed to depressive and anxious symptoms, whereas shame related to depression only and hopelessness related to depression only marginally. Additionally, general negative attributional style and low sense of control over discipline related to all three affective elements. Lastly, low sense of discipline control directly predicted depressive symptoms, whereas beliefs that discipline was undeserved directly predicted anxious symptoms. Future work should continue to examine the role of children’s discipline-specific attributions, which appear important in internalizing symptoms.