Irwin Lauren M, Skowronski John J, Crouch Julie L, Milner Joel S, Zengel Bettina
Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA; Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA.
Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA.
Child Abuse Negl. 2014 May;38(5):917-27. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.08.017. Epub 2013 Sep 26.
This study examined whether caregivers who exhibit high risk for child physical abuse differ from low-risk caregivers in reactions to transgressing children. Caregivers read vignettes describing child transgressions. These vignettes varied in: (a) the type of transgression described (moral, conventional, personal), (b) presentation of transgression-mitigating information (present, absent), and (c) whether a directive to avoid the transgression was in the vignette (yes, no). After reading each vignette, caregivers provided ratings reflecting their: (a) perceptions of transgression wrongness, (b) internal attributions about the transgressing child, (c) perceptions of the transgressing child's hostile intent, (d) own expected negative post-transgression affect, and (e) perceived likelihood of responding to the transgression with discipline that displayed power assertion and/or induction. For moral transgressions (cruelty, dishonesty, hostility, or greed), mitigating information reduced caregiver expectations that they would feel negative affect and, subsequent to the transgression, use disciplinary strategies that display power assertion. These mitigating effects were smaller among at-risk caregivers than among low-risk caregivers. Moreover, when transgressions disobeyed a directive, among low-risk caregivers, mitigating information reduced the expectation that responses to transgressions would include inductive disciplinary strategies, but it did not do so among at-risk caregivers. In certain circumstances, compared to low-risk caregivers, at-risk caregivers expect to be relatively unaffected by transgression-mitigating information. These results suggest that interventions that increase an at-risk caregiver's ability to properly assess and integrate mitigating information may play a role in reducing the caregiver's risk of child physical abuse.
本研究考察了在对犯错儿童的反应方面，具有高儿童身体虐待风险的照料者与低风险照料者是否存在差异。照料者阅读描述儿童犯错的短文。这些短文在以下方面有所不同：(a) 所描述的犯错类型（道德、常规、个人），(b) 减轻犯错情节信息的呈现（有、无），以及 (c) 短文中是否有避免犯错的指令（有、无）。阅读每篇短文后，照料者给出反映他们的评分：(a) 对犯错错误程度的认知，(b) 对犯错儿童的内在归因，(c) 对犯错儿童敌意意图的认知，(d) 自己预期的犯错后负面情绪，以及 (e) 认为用展示权力主张和/或诱导的方式对犯错做出反应的可能性。对于道德错误（残忍、不诚实、敌意或贪婪），减轻情节信息降低了照料者对自己会感到负面情绪以及在犯错后使用展示权力主张的纪律策略的预期。这些减轻影响在高风险照料者中比在低风险照料者中更小。此外，当犯错违反指令时，在低风险照料者中，减轻情节信息降低了对犯错反应会包括诱导性纪律策略的预期，但在高风险照料者中并非如此。在某些情况下，与低风险照料者相比，高风险照料者预期相对不会受到减轻犯错情节信息的影响。这些结果表明，提高高风险照料者正确评估和整合减轻情节信息能力的干预措施可能在降低照料者对儿童身体虐待的风险方面发挥作用。
