The use of the brief child abuse potential inventory in the general population in Finland

Fathers' mental Ill-health and child maltreatment: A systematic review of the literature

Background

Parental mental ill-health is often described as a risk factor for child maltreatment. Yet the literature commonly foregrounds maternal mental ill-health. To obtain a more complete picture, it is crucial to also understand the associations between fathers' mental health and child maltreatment.

Aim

To provide a narrative synthesis of evidence about the relationship between fathers' mental health and child maltreatment.

Method

Four electronic databases were searched, identifying 5479 citations. 151 studies were brought to full-text review. 37 were included in the study.

Results

Studies revealed mixed evidence for associations between forms of paternal mental ill health and child maltreatment, with stronger evidence for paternal depression and weak or no evidence for PTSD and anxiety. Many confounding factors were identified across the papers.

Discussion

The small number and limited range of good quality studies indicate the need to correct the relative invisibility of fathers within research about mental health and child maltreatment. At present, the available evidence is not sufficient to draw firm conclusions about the association between fathers' mental health and child maltreatment or appropriate policy and practice responses.

Spanish Adaptation of the Inventory Brief Child Abuse Potential and the Protective Factors Survey

Child maltreatment is a public health problem with different consequences depending on the form of abuse. Measuring risk and protective factors has been a fertile ground for research, without involving instruments with sufficient evidence of validity. The aim of the study was to gather evidence of validity and reliability of the Inventory Brief Child Abuse Potential (IBCAP) and Protective Factors Survey (PFS) in the Mexican population. The instruments were translated into Spanish. In a non-probabilistic sample of 200 participants, the 7-factor model for the IBCAP [comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.984; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.067] and the 4-factor model for the PFS (CFI = 0.974; RMSEA = 0.061) were confirmed, showing adequate fit indices. Reliability was estimated and evidence of convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity was collected, controlling for effects of social desirability. We also report interpretability statistics of the scores. We achieved solid progress in the development of instrumentation that allows determining the presence or absence of protective and risk factors for child abuse.