The Measurement Integrity of Data Collected Using the Child Abuse Potential Inventory

Abstract

The present study investigated the reliability and validity of scores from the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory. Subjects were 113 mothers, including 53 (46.9%) mothers of young children with handicaps and 60 (53.1%) mothers of young children without identified handicaps. Analyses of CAP validity scales suggested that the Random Response subscale could be improved by omitting selected items. Although total CAP scores had an impressive alpha coefficient (.91), consistent with those reported in previous research, some short subscales had unacceptable coefficients. The factor structure underlying responses was interpretable, but different in some respects from results reported in previous studies.