Perez-Albeniz A, de Paul Joaquin
Facultad de Psicologia, University of Basque Country, P.O. Box 726, 20080 San Sebastian, Spain.
Child Abuse Negl. 2004 Mar;28(3):289-300. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2003.11.017.
The present research was designed to study empathy in high-risk parents for child physical abuse. The main objective was to study if high-risk mothers and fathers, compared to low-risk mothers and fathers, presented more Personal distress, less Perspective-taking, less Empathic concern and a deficit in dispositional empathy toward their partner and children.
Based on their scores on the Abuse Scale of the CAP Inventory [J.S. Milner, The Child Abuse Potential Inventory: Manual, 2nd ed., Psytec Corporation, Webster, NC], 19 (9 fathers and 10 mothers) high- and 26 (12 fathers and 14 mothers) low-risk parents for child physical abuse were selected from a total sample of 331 parents of the Spanish general population. Both groups were statistically matched on sociodemographic variables. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) [Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology 10 (1980) 85] and the Parent/Partner Empathy Scale (PPES) [N.D. Feshbach, N. Caskey, A new scale for measuring parent empathy and partner empathy: factorial structure, correlates and clinical discrimination, 1985] were used to assess dispositional empathy.
An interaction between risk status and gender for "Personal distress" and "Perspective-taking" was found. High-risk mothers for child physical abuse showed more "Personal distress" than low-risk mothers and low-risk fathers. High-risk fathers for child physical abuse showed less "Perspective-taking" than low-risk mothers and low-risk fathers. No difference between both groups was found for the IRI "Empathic concern" dimension. Moreover, high-risk, compared to low-risk, parents showed lower scores both on the "Empathy toward the partner" and on the "Empathy toward the child" dimensions of the PPES. No interaction between risk status and gender was found for the PPES dimensions.
Findings of the present study supported the hypothesis that high-risk parents for child physical abuse show a deficit both in general empathy and in empathy toward their family members. Moreover, findings suggested the existence of a different pattern of deficits in empathy for high-risk fathers and high-risk mothers.
本研究旨在探讨有虐待儿童风险的父母的同理心。主要目的是研究与低风险的父母相比，高风险的父母是否表现出更多的个人痛苦、更少的换位思考、更少的共情关注以及对伴侣和孩子的特质性同理心不足。
根据他们在《儿童虐待潜能量表》（CAP Inventory）虐待量表上的得分，从西班牙普通人群的331名父母总样本中，选取了19名（9名父亲和10名母亲）有虐待儿童高风险和26名（12名父亲和14名母亲）低风险的父母。两组在社会人口统计学变量上进行了统计学匹配。使用人际反应指数（IRI）[《心理学精选文献目录》10（1980）85]和父母/伴侣同理心量表（PPES）[N.D.费什巴赫、N.卡斯基，一种测量父母同理心和伴侣同理心的新量表：因子结构、相关性和临床鉴别，1985]来评估特质性同理心。
发现“个人痛苦”和“换位思考”在风险状态和性别之间存在交互作用。有虐待儿童风险的高风险母亲比低风险母亲和低风险父亲表现出更多的“个人痛苦”。有虐待儿童风险的高风险父亲比低风险母亲和低风险父亲表现出更少的“换位思考”。两组在IRI“共情关注”维度上没有差异。此外，与低风险父母相比，高风险父母在PPES的“对伴侣的同理心”和“对孩子的同理心”维度上得分更低。PPES维度在风险状态和性别之间未发现交互作用。
本研究结果支持了这样的假设，即有虐待儿童风险的父母在一般同理心以及对家庭成员的同理心方面都存在不足。此外，研究结果表明高风险父亲和高风险母亲在同理心不足方面存在不同的模式。
