Abstract
In the past five years the physical abuse of children by their parents has received increasing attention both in this country and in the United States of America. Few objective or comparative accounts have been published however. This investigation represents an objective attempt to identify the battering parent and thus to facilitate prevention. In the first part of this study, twenty parents suspected of battering their children were compared with supposedly normal parents. Three psychological tests were used comparatively. These were: the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test, Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Tests and Schaefer and Bell's Parent Attitude Research Instrument. In the second part of the investigation, the questionnaire responses of fifteen battering parents were compared with those of fifteen parents whose children had received accidental injury in the home. Significant differences emerged between the responses of battering and non-battering parents in both parts, of the study. The major differentiating feature of the battering fathers was their more introverted temperament. This implies that they are less socially participant than non-battering fathers, less enthusiastic in their responses to life, and colder in their emotional reactions toward other people. The likelihood of a schizoid process underlying this temperamental difference was discussed. The major differentiating feature of the battering mothers was their lack of ego-integration, implying poor impulse control and reality adjustment. The relationship between this and immaturity was discussed. Other features which characterised battering parents as a whole were their lowered verbal ability, and heightened aggression. Stress associated with economic and marital difficulties was also a significant feature of the battering parent, as were stresses in the mother connected with pregnancy.