Objective: Given the costly outcomes associated with the physical abuse and harsh discipline of children, identifying pathways leading parents to engage in parent–child aggression (PCA) are critical to prevention and intervention efforts. One model that attempts to identify the processes involved in increasing parents’ risk is an adaptation of Social Information Processing (SIP) theory. The current study investigated whether elements of SIP theory assessed prenatally can predict later PCA risk in a diverse sample of mothers and fathers. Method: This evaluation controlled for parents’ current level of personal vulnerabilities (psychopathology, substance use, domestic violence) or resiliencies (social support, partner satisfaction, coping) to determine the predictive value of the SIP processes in particular. This study used a multimethod approach that included several analog tasks. Dyadic analyses were conducted to contrast 196 mothers and their partners who were enrolled prenatally and then reassessed when their infants were 6 months old. Results: Findings indicate that poor empathy assessed prenatally was associated with greater overreactivity and more negative attributions regarding children’s behavior, which in turn predicted later PCA risk. Moreover, attitudes approving the use of PCA predicted later PCA risk largely due to its connection with negative child attributions, less knowledge of nonphysical discipline alternatives, and higher compliance expectations. Conclusions: The results suggest that elements of the SIP theory can be identified prenatally to estimate later risk of PCA, with some differences in profiles between mothers and fathers. Future directions for evaluating the SIP model and its implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.

中文翻译：

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预测母亲和父亲亲子攻击风险：利用社会信息处理理论的纵向多方法调查。

目标：鉴于与儿童身体虐待和严厉管教相关的代价高昂的后果，确定导致父母参与亲子攻击（PCA）的途径对于预防和干预工作至关重要。一种试图识别增加父母风险的过程的模型是对社会信息处理（SIP）理论的改编。目前的研究调查了产前评估的 SIP 理论要素是否可以预测不同母亲和父亲样本中以后发生 PCA 的风险。方法：该评估控制了父母当前的个人脆弱性（心理病理学、药物滥用、家庭暴力）或弹性（社会支持、伴侣满意度、应对）水平，以确定 SIP 过程的预测价值。这项研究使用了多种方法，其中包括多个模拟任务。对 196 名母亲及其伴侣进行了二元分析对比，这些母亲及其伴侣在产前登记，然后在婴儿 6 个月大时重新评估。结果：研究结果表明，产前评估的同理心较差与儿童行为的过度反应和负面归因有关，这反过来又预测了以后发生 PCA 的风险。此外，批准使用 PCA 的态度预测了以后的 PCA 风险，很大程度上是因为它与负面的儿童归因、对非身体纪律替代方案的了解较少以及较高的合规期望有关。结论：结果表明，SIP 理论的要素可以在产前确定，以估计以后发生 PCA 的风险，但母亲和父亲之间的情况存在一些差异。讨论了评估 SIP 模型的未来方向及其对预防和干预的影响。