Convergent and discriminant validity of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory.

A number of hypotheses were generated predicting the relationship between the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory and factors on the Sixteen Personality Factor (16PF) questionnaire. As expected, positive relationships were found between abuse and apprehension, tension, and anxiety, while a negative relationship was observed between abuse and stability. The 16PF factors of apprehension, tension, anxiety and stability, which had the strongest relationship with abuse, are factors descriptive of neuroticism. A regression and discriminant analysis, however, indicated these factors alone were not sufficient to accurately describe and predict abuse.