Date of Award
Spring 1993
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Fox, Robert
Second Advisor
Platz, Donald
Third Advisor
Ivanoff, John
Abstract
Research involving abusive mothers and their corresponding child's characteristics have involved mostly attitudinal instruments. Few studies have examined the parenting behaviors and the young child's behaviors of abusive mothers'. The purpose of this study was to determine if Life stress Events, Child Problem Behaviors, and the three subscales of the Parenting Inventory: Nurturing, Expectations and Discipline can discriminate between Abusive and Control mothers. In addition, differences between sex of the child was explored on each of these variables. A total of 92 mothers, representing the entire socioeconomic (SES) range, comprised the sample. Mothers were within the age range of 18-45 and had at least one child between the ages of one to four years, 11 months. Two groups of parents were included in this study: an abusive group and a control group. The abusive group consisted of mothers who were seeking supportive services through Parents Anonymous or a parenting stress center. The control group were matched to the abusive sample on race, age and sex of the reference child, family socioeconomic status, and single -or- two parent families.