Citation

Crouch JL, McKay ER, Lelakowska G, Hiraoka R, Rutledge E, Bridgett DJ, Milner JS. Child Abuse Negl. 2018; 80: 99-107.

Affiliation

Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.03.003

PMID

29587198

Abstract

This study examined the associations between executive functioning problems, emotion regulation difficulties, and risk for perpetrating child physical abuse (CPA). It was hypothesized that: (a) poor executive functions (i.e., working memory problems and inhibition/switching problems) would be associated with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties and CPA risk; (b) emotion regulation difficulties would be positively associated with CPA risk; and (c) emotion regulation difficulties would partially explain the association between executive functions (i.e., working memory problems and inhibition/switching problems) and CPA risk. To examine these predictions, a sample of 133 general population parents (31% fathers) completed self-report measures of CPA risk, emotion regulation difficulties, working memory problems, and a performance-based measure of inhibition/switching skills.

RESULTS revealed that executive functioning problems were linked with emotion regulation difficulties, which in turn were associated with CPA risk. Moreover, emotion regulation difficulties explained the relationship between executive functions (working memory, inhibition/switching) and CPA risk. The final model accounted for 41% of the variance in CPA risk. Although additional research is needed, the present findings suggest that enhancing parents' executive functioning and teaching them effective emotion regulation skills may be important targets for CPA prevention efforts.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Child Abuse Potential Inventory; Emotion regulation; Inhibition/switching; Parenting; Working memory