Investigation analog task of parents' attributions for child behaviors

This study evaluated a novel analog task to assess how parents' beliefs of whether children acted intentionally were related to the potential of physical child abuse. The analog task utilized eye-tracking technology to assess attributions without responses being influenced by conscious processing, addressing prior limitations in attribution and child maltreatment research. Comparisons were expected to show that parents who more commonly make the attribution that children act intentionally will have higher child abuse potential. Twenty-six parents (7 fathers and 19 mothers) of a child at least 9 years old or younger were recruited to participate in a study examining new ways of assessing parenting. Participants were asked to read passages on a computer while eye movements were monitored; to complete self-report measures that assessed attributions; to answer culpability scenarios; and to complete the Parent Intentionality Annoyance-Attribution scale (PIAA) that assessed child abuse potential, Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory-2 (AAPI-2), Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI), and Parent Intentionality Annoyance-Punishment scale (PIAP). Results indicated no significant correlations between the scores obtained from the analog task and the self-report version of the identical scenarios. However, marginal correlations were found between the second pass and total time scores of the analog task with the other self-report measure of intentionality attributions (PIAA). Significant correlations were found between self-reported discipline approaches (PIAP) and second pass and total time scores on the analog task. However, the other child abuse risk measures (CAPI and AAPI-2) were not significantly correlated with scores on the analog task, despite the fact that the PIAP was associated with these measures. These results are consistent with prior research that parents who rate children's behavior as more intentional are more likely to choose more severe punishments. The connection between child abuse potential and attributions was assessed without conscious-processing biases, suggesting that using eye-tracking technology as an analog task can facilitate measuring constructs that are difficult to accurately measure using self-report. The lack of association with the self-report scenarios and two of the abuse risk measures highlight the potential differences between implicit and explicit measures of child abuse potential. v