Differences in abusive, at-risk for abuse, and control mothers' descriptions of normal child behavior.

Differences in the descriptions of normal child behavior were assessed for mothers at-risk for abuse (N = 18) and control (N = 20) mothers, and compared to a criterion group of currently abusive mothers (N = 5). Three segments of each of nine videotaped scenes were rated by the mothers. At-risk mothers rated more segments as negative (M = 11.1) than did control mothers (M = 7.0), and were more like the abusive mothers who were the most negative of all (M = 16.4). When type of scene (e.g., noncompliant, mildly aversive, daily activities, child unattended) was analyzed, the at-risk mothers rated more of the mildly aversive (p less than .05) and child unattended (p less than .05) scenes as negative than did the controls. Abusing mothers rated significantly more segments as negative (p less than .05) than the other groups on all but noncompliant scenes. When specific risk factors were examined, insularity and directly observed negative interactions between mothers and their own child were significantly related to total segments rated as negative (p less than .02; p less than .05, respectively). The study was conceptualized and results discussed in terms of faulty stimulus discrimination; specifically, overgeneralizing from negative stimuli on the part of troubled mothers.