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Fathers and Maternal Risk for Physical Child Abuse

University of Chicago, nguterman{at}uchicago.edu

Yookyong Lee

Temple University

Shawna J. Lee

Wayne State University

Jane Waldfogel

Columbia University

Paul J. Rathouz

University of Chicago

This study set out to examine father-related factors predicting maternal physical child abuse risk in a national birth cohort of 1,480 families. In-home and phone interviews were conducted with mothers when index children were 3 years old. Predictor variables included the mother—father relationship status; father demographic, economic, and psychosocial variables; and key background factors. Outcome variables included both observed and self-reported proxies of maternal physical child abuse risk. At the bivariate level, mothers married to fathers were at lower risk for most indicators of maternal physical child abuse. However, after accounting for specific fathering factors and controlling for background variables, multivariate analyses indicated that marriage washed out as a protective factor, and on two of three indicators was linked with greater maternal physical abuse risk. Regarding fathering factors linked with risk, fathers' higher educational attainment and their positive involvement with their children most discernibly predicted lower maternal physical child abuse risk. Fathers' economic factors played no observable role in mothers' risk for physical child maltreatment. Such multivariate findings suggest that marriage per se does not appear to be a protective factor for maternal physical child abuse and rather it may serve as a proxy for other father-related protective factors.

Key Words: fathers • physical child abuse • marital status • maternal risk

Child Maltreatment, Vol. 14, No. 3, 277-290 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1077559509337893


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